Signposts to the Past - the birds of our old names and places

An evening with authors Michael J. Warren and Amy-Jane Beer in conversation about how birds inspired extraordinary relationships between ancient people and their ancient places

Traces of an ancient landscape, birds and people echo faintly to anyone with care and patience enough to discover the signs. Birds in their hundreds feature in medieval places, and haunt our place names today.

There is almost certainly a town or village near to you, wherever you live, with an avian origin. What is it about birds that caught people’s imaginations and made them

such vivifying spirits and shapers of place? Michael’s book The Cuckoo’s Lea weaves together early literature, history and ornithology, revealing the significance of birds in our place names and our heritage. When so many places and their birds are threatened or already gone, The Cuckoo’s Lea is a typical and emotive call for us all to take notice, appreciate and fight for the nature of our past, present and future.