From Deck to Decant: A Marine Biologist’s Déjà Vu After a Year in a Natural History Museum Written by Dr Jamie Maxwell, Collections Assistant, National Museum of Ireland, Natural History. Not every job takes you to a windswept beach on Ireland’s west coast to recover the head of a stranded True’s…

NatSCA Digital Digest – September 2025 Compiled by Olivia Beavers, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at World Museum, National Museums Liverpool. Welcome to the September edition of NatSCA Digital Digest. A monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the…

Seeing With Their Eyes A Poetic Reflection on the 2025 ‘From Collections to Connections’ NatSCA Conference Presentation Written by Pauline Rutter – Independent Archival Artist, Community and Organisation Poet. These words look out from the page with eyes I have borrowed. Eyes not shaped for vision…

Crispy, Brown and Far Too Delicate – Are Herbarium Specimens Just Too Difficult to Use? Written by Clare Brown, Leeds Museums and Galleries. Taking a walk through a forest, running through fields of wheat or even just gazing at trees, all a far-cry from dealing with the sheets of pressed,…

NatSCA Digital Digest – August 2025 Compiled by Ellie Clark, Collections Moves Team Leader at the Natural History Museum. Welcome to the August edition of NatSCA Digital Digest. Digital Digest is a monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the natural history…

Moving a ‘Monster’ – the Ups and Downs of Exhibiting a Japanese Spider Crab Written by Hannah Clarke – Assistant Curator (Collections Access), University of Aberdeen. In May this year, I was given the slightly terrifying task of overseeing the removal and transportation of Aberdeen University’s…

How to Foster Empathy with Endangered Animals: Developing a Creative Writing and Drawing Workshop Toolkit Written by Dr Christina Thatcher, Lecturer in Creative Writing & Dr Lisa El Refaie, Reader in Language and Communication, Cardiff University. With biodiversity declining at an alarming rate,…

A Refresher Course on Fluid Specimen Conservation at the Natural History Museum of Denmark Written by Anastasia van Gaver (Conservator) & Bethany Palumbo (Head of Conservation) Natural History Museum Denmark). As conservators, it’s essential we keep up to date with developments in the techniques…

NatSCA Digital Digest – July 2025 Compiled by Milo Phillips, Digitisation Co-ordinator at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Welcome to the July edition of NatSCA Digital Digest. A monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the natural history sector including…

Bark Tanning Skins into Leather for Taxidermy – A Sustainable, Natural and Non-harmful Alternative to Commercial Tanning Products? Written by Jazmine Miles Long, Taxidermist. When a taxidermy mount is made, the skin of the mammal (and in some cases reptiles and birds) is usually tanned. Tanning is…

Planet Ocean: Using Local Collections to Celebrate Global Climate Action Written by Sarah Marden, Curator of Natural History at The Box, Plymouth. From March 2024 to April 2025, a new exhibition at The Box called Planet Ocean explored Plymouth’s marine heritage and contemporary identity as…

NatSCA Digital Digest – June 2025 Compiled by Olivia Beavers, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at World Museum, National Museums Liverpool. Welcome to the June edition of NatSCA Digital Digest. A monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the natural…

A Hundred Feet Through the Door – A Chance Encounter with some Centipedes set me on a Curatorial Path… Written by Dan Gordon, Keeper of Biology, The Great North Museum: Hancock. So, how did I get started in museums? Like perhaps many people, it began with a stroke of luck. I’d decided to study…

5 Top Tips on How to Decant your Museum By Eimear Ashe, Collections Moves Project Manager, National Museum of Ireland Having recently completed a major decant of Natural History collections in the National Museum of Ireland, I thought it a perfect opportunity to share my learnings with fellow…

NatSCA Digital Digest – May 2025 Compiled by Ellie Clark, Collections Moves Team Leader at the Natural History Museum, London. Welcome to the May edition of NatSCA Digital Digest Digital Digest is a monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the natural history…

A Stable Future – Research into the Stability of Materials used in Taxidermy Manufacture. Written by Jazmine Miles Long - Taxidermist & Bethany Palumbo - Head of Conservation, Natural History Museum Denmark. Taxidermy collections are crucial for our understanding of biodiversity, evolution,…

A Time Capsule of Extinction: Scotland’s Iconic Wildlife Written by Caitlin Jamison, Museum Collection Technician, Montrose Museum: ANGUSalive. Montrose Museum in Angus, northeast Scotland, houses an impressive natural history collection. Everything from taxidermy to fossils to rare minerals are…

NatSCA Digital Digest – April 2025 Compiled by Milo Phillips, Digitisation Co-ordinator at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Welcome to the April edition of NatSCA Digital Digest. A monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the natural history sector…

Packing the Blaschka Glass Models  Written by Julian Carter, Principal Conservator Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales, Cardiff During the late 19th century, Leopold Blaschka (1822-1895) and his son Rudolf (1857-1929) produced thousands of beautifully detailed glass models of a wide…

We are keen to support our members in attending the #NatSCA2025 conference. To have a look at our bursary offer, please go to: www.NatSCA.org/awards-and-bursaries

Tickets are selling fast for the #NatSCA2025 conference at Manchester Museum so book soon to avoid disappointment! www.natsca.org/natsca2025

In addition information about bursaries can be found here: www.natsca.org/awards-and-b... bsky.app/profile/nats...

Booking is now open for #NatSCA2025 conference! This year’s theme is: Making a Difference: Showing the Positive Impact of Natural History Collections, and it will be hosted by the Manchester Museum. To find out more and register go to www.natsca.org/natsca2025

Birds of Bolton Museum Written by Lauren Field, Curator of Natural History, Bolton Museum. In June 2024 Bolton Museum launched a summer exhibition titled Birds of Bolton. This exhibition celebrated the incredible variety of bird life in Bolton and beyond and was inspired by the recent donation of…

Top NatSCA Blogs of 2024 Compiled by Jen Gallichan, NatSCA Blog Editor. 2024 was a great year for the NatSCA blog and we have seen increases in both the number of readers and number of articles submitted. We are now reaching well over 2000 views per month. I want to take this opportunity to thank…

We made it! We followed the white butterfly, leaving the scratchy letter behind. Please bear with us though, it might take a bit of time to sort out a posting rota… However, we need a lovely nat sci coll banner picture. If you’ve got a good one please send it to us by end of Jan 🙂