The Witherby Memorial Lecture is an academic lectureship awarded by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) annually since 1968. The memorial lecture is in memorandum of Harry Forbes Witherby, a former owner of Witherby, who previously published ornithological books.
Lectures
Year Lecturer Subject1968Arthur Landsborough Thomson The sub-species concept1969David Lack The number of bird species on islands1970H. N. Southern Tawny Owls1971E. M. Nicholson Geograms1972Peter Scott Species extinction in birds1973Beryl Patricia Hall Speciation and specialisation1974Desmond Nethersole-Thompson Greenshanks1975J. C. Coulson Ringing as an ecological tool1976Geoge Dunnet The ages of birds – adolescence and senility1977David Snow The relationships between the African and European avifaunas1979Stanley Cramp Ornithology and bird conservation1980Derek Ratcliffe The Peregrine falcon1981W. G. Hale The biology of the Redshank1982Janet Kear Some thoughts on eggs1983Chris Perrins A study of the Great tit1984Patrick Bateson Imprinting in young birds1985Ian Newton Individual performance in Sparrowhawks1986C. H. Fry The Bee-eaters1987Fred Cooke Natural selection in Snow Geese1988P. R. Evans Migration strategies of shorebirds1989John Krebs, Baron Krebs Food hoarding in tits1991J. D. Goss-Custard The importance of scale in the study of bird populations1992Dick Potts Is there a future for farmland birds?1993Peter Berthold Some new developments in bird migration research1994John Lawton All change? Numbers and range in the field and in the mind1995A. Watson Thinking, practice and people in bird population ecology1996M. Owen Wildlife and water: partnerships for effective action1997M. P. Harris Individuality in a densely colonial seabird: the Common Guillemot1998J. P Croxall Albatrosses, Fisheries and Futures1999D. T. Parkin Birding and DNA2000David Harper The public and private lives of Robins2001Franz Bairlein The study of bird migration: where to go?2002Nicholas Barry Davies Cuckoo versus host2003David Murray Bryant Swallows – life in an uncertain world2004Pat Monaghan Bad beginnings and untimely ends: Life history trade-offs in birds2005W. J. Sutherland Science and Conservation2006Theunis Piersma What is it like to be a Knot? Towards a cognitive ecology of shorebirds2007Mick Marquiss Case studies with predatory birds2008Peter Grant Evolution of Darwin's finches2009Fernando Spina Birds and rings across the Mediterranean: the role of ringing for science and for conservation in Italy2010Tim Birkhead Sperm and Eggs: Promiscuity in birds2011Rhys Green Birth, death and bird conservation2012Sarah Wanless An Exaltation of Auks2013Graham MartinThrough Birds' Eyes2014Kevin GastonBirds in an urbanising world2015Migration in space and time2016Ben SheldonCoping with a variable world: plasticity and social learning in Great tit2017Stuart BearhopThe ups and downs of an extreme migrant2018Jane ReidRinging, Birding, Migration Ecology & Evolution2019Bob FurnessWhat have the ringers ever done for us? How amateurs make British ornithology great.2020Caren CooperFlock Together: Innovations Migrating Across Citizen Science2021Claire SpottiswoodeCoevolution as an engine of biodiversity: insights from African birds2022Professor Peter MarraStudying Birds in the Context of the Full Annual Cycle2023No lecture2024Dr Norman RatcliffeAshmole’s halo and Hutchinson’s hypervolume
References