Birds of the Lower Derwent Valley Book Talk

Join us for the Birds of the Lower Derwent Valley Book Talk at Melbourne Village Hall on January 29, 2026 at 7:00 PM.

Important Note: This is a free ticketed event. Please register to secure your spot, as space is limited. We look forward to having you! Optional donations will support Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley, a charity dedicated to the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment of the Lower Derwent Valley

Let's celebrate the beauty of our feathered friends together. Don't miss out on this event filled with fascinating insights and stunning visuals. Learn how it came about, what it contains, and why it’s going to be important going forward as a new baseline conservation document. See you there!

After five years in the making, the new ‘Birds of the Lower Derwent Valley – a Historical, Conservation and Migration Review’ is finally here! This book has been published by the Friends of the Lower Derwent Valley, and contained within its 550 pages is everything we know about the 294 bird species that have occurred on the reserve and surrounding area – historically, along with more detailed trends from the 1960s up to the end of 2024. As well as the status, counts and trends, this book also summarises the results from the ringing of over 100,000 birds since the late 1980s, with species maps, selected recoveries, and longevity records. Perhaps more significantly, it also identifies where we know we have gaps in the knowledge for certain species, as well as predicting what species might be the next to occur. With 294 individual species accounts, 40 maps, 344 colour-photographs and 35 line-drawing and artworks, it’s a must-have book for serious local birders, nature conservationists, land managers, or indeed anyone with a passing interest in the area, the Ings, its birds and wildlife.