Happy Departmental #Birthday to us! Our shelves are still happily full of wonderful books but I’m just wondering how on earth the ones on the top shelf got there or were retrieved?!? (Loving the ladder too even though a H&S nightmare … ) #libraries #books #NHM #Collections

For anyone needing a little lift today, here’s a link to the botanical drawing #master that is Georg Ehret (1708-1770) and some of his watercolours held by nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social all freely available to view and make you #smile nhm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fu... #botanicalart

Delighted to have come across this lovely book for a patron visit - Isabella Sinclair’s Indigenous Flowers of the #Hawaiian Islands (1855). The first book published with colour images of Hawaiian flowering plants. A great blog here blog.biodiversitylibrary.org/2019/03/isab... #rarebooks #flowers

Mycologist Arthur Peck (1870-1940) was such a fun guy (sorry, not sorry) we've added his 150+ images of British fungi to our Digitised Special Collections buff.ly/DwrpsMW. #NaturalHistoryMuseum #SpecialCollections #NatureInArt #Photography #SciArt #Mushrooms Alt text: Reel of sepia photos of fungi

Surely one of the most exquisite zoological publications of the nineteenth century: Richard Owen's Monograph on the Aye-Aye (1863), with plates drawn by Joseph Wolf and lithographed by James Erxleben. Also a key statement of Owen's conception of evolution. (The @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social copy.)

New on advance access: "Colonial world-making and global knowledges at the early modern Cape of Good Hope" by @gianamar97.bsky.social‬ (@uvahumanities.bsky.social) #OpenAccess academic.oup.com/past/advance...

BIG NEWS: For the first time in six years, Britain's rarest breeding bird has successfully nested in the UK! A pair of Montagu's Harriers have raised four healthy chicks, all of which have taken their first flights.

One of the cuddliest, fluffiest predators on the planet. Hyperechia consimilis (Asilidae), female. This beauty was collected from Mulanje Massif, or Mt Mulanje in southern Malawi. She is over a hundred years old.... @dipterists.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social #digitising

I’m getting “oh really” or “do I have to listen to this for the umpteenth time” vibes from this marmoset drawn by Weber in Wagner’s Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur (pl.13, supplementband, 1855). #animalexpressions #specialbooks #illustration

Richard Owen was born #OTD 221 years ago .. Also born on 20th July: Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), Jimmy “Teddy Bears’ Picnic” Kennedy (1902-1984), Mad Dog Coll (1908-1932), Edmund Hillary (1919-2008), Ted “3-2-1” Rogers (1935-2001), Diana Rigg (1938-2020) and Chris Cornell (1964-2017) #birthdays

You can also now see it as part of the Richard Owen: A Natural Legacy display in the @nhm-london.bsky.social ‘s free Images of Nature gallery alongside other original #illustrations from Owen’s fascinating drawings collection #naturalhistory #art #gallery #echidna #anatomy

Currently prepping these wooden beauties for a new display on Richard Owen’s science, art and legacy going into the NHM’s Images of Nature gallery tomorrow! #woodengraving #megatherium #bones #specialcollections

One of the earliest European accounts of an Australian mammal was of a #quokka, by Willem de Vlamingh in 1696, here on #Rottnest - in fact, he named the island after them (Rottnest means Rat's nest in Dutch - of course it already had a Noongar name: Wadjemup). The account of the voyage... 1/2

Celebrating the first anniversary of Fern the Diplodocus in our garden @nhm-london.bsky.social , here's a little movie explaining exactly how we did it, starring yours truly: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7Xb...

A true privilege to be able to observe such iconic wildlife up close in the wonderful Galápagos Islands - especially my all time fav, the blue footed booby. So very special to appreciate how humans and wildlife can thrive together #santacruz #sancristobal #respect

hello. if you work at a university please ask your library to buy my book. it is all about books and libraries and also plants, museums, the Royal Society, and the ways we learn. I think it will be interesting to lots of people, hopefully. thank you www.cambridge.org/gb/universit...

Morning all. Meet Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae, a new neornithishian dinosaur from the Morrison Formation. It goes on display @nhm-london.bsky.social from tomorrow. Paper by @profpaulbarrett.bsky.social and I in @royalsocietypublishing.org Open Science. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

The fab jackdashby.bsky.social is giving us @nhm-london.bsky.social’ers a talk on the topics in his new book ‘Nature’s Memory’ The history of how collections develop is not always pleasant - some have a dark past -check out the publication below & read his book! www.natsca.org/sites/defaul...

Well this is exciting! Here's an interview I did for @nature.com about #NaturesMemory - talking about how natural history #museums can help save the world, as the best evidence we have for understanding environmental change, plus colonial legacies, male bias, and more: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Possibly one of my favourite depictions of a pigeon for #NationalPigeonDay From: A treatise on domestic pigeons; comprehending all the different species know in England ... by John Moore, printed and sold by C. Barry, 1765. #rarebooks #specialcollections #birb

A smidgen of pigeon for National Pigeon Day. ⬆️Learn more about our collections and how to visit us via the link in our bio. #NaturalHistoryMuseum #SpecialCollections #Birds #NationalPigeonDay #NaturalHistoryIllustration #NatureInArt #SciArt

Coenraad Temminck's (1778-1858) Les Pigeons text was accompanied by illustrations by French artist Pauline Knip (1781-1851). Giving her full control over the engraving and printing process, she controversially re-titled the work “Les Pigeons par Madame Knip”, crediting him by misspelling his name!

Each year we recognise an outstanding botanical artist with the Jill Smythies Award. The winner, whose work must involve diagnostically relevant, published illustrations, receives a medal and £1,000. Send in your nominations by 30 September. Find out more: www.linnean.org/the-...

Opening soon! Don’t miss this unique exhibition revealing the remarkable world of wasps and find out why we should all appreciate these incredibly fascinating, ecologically important animals. #WaspLove

John Abbot (1751-1840) spent most of his life collecting and drawing the #birds and #insects of Georgia. He was born on either May 31 (parish records) or June 1 (Abbot's choice). See his birds tomorrow! #SpecialBooks #NaturalHistoryMuseum #otd Alt text: A reel showing drawings of insects

Join @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social as she unravels how the concept of extinction is deeply political - shaped by empire, science, and survival - and why it matters now more than ever as we face the possibility of a sixth mass extinction. June 26, 6–8:15pm, Linnean Society Book here: bit.ly/3T194pc

Today I give you happy anteaters, a happy chameleon and a happy (dancing?) sloth all courtesy of volume 1 of @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social coloured copy of Albertus Seba’s wonderful/curious masterpiece Locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri (1734-65). “Accurata” is also in the title.. #rarebooks

We're hiring! SENIOR DIGITISER, Library and Archives 🔎Based: South Kensington, London 🔎Fixed term contract (23 months) 🔎Hours per week : 36 🔎Closing date: 08/06/2025 ⬆️Full details: see link in bio. #NaturalHistoryMuseum #GLAMJobs #LibraryJobs #ArchiveJobs Alt text: Reel of man digitising artwork.

A very happy #birthday to the absolutely wonderful and inspirational Sir David Attenborough! I have truly treasured each time I have had the privilege of meeting you and talking with you about @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social ‘s collections and the natural world 🪰🦀🐡🐋🍄💚

The wrong kind of fish is ending up in seabirds. Soy sauce throw away package from a Sable Shearwater.

Join artist Rob Kesseler at 6pm on 5 June for an in-person in-conversation exploring how microscopic imagery influences contemporary art. Discover how Rob's striking microscope art unlocks hidden plant worlds - merging science and creativity amid climate change. Book here: bit.ly/4manReO

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Big day... My book #NaturesMemory: Behind the Scenes at the World's Natural History #Museums is published TODAY.🤩 Over the last 20+ years of working in these incredible institutions, I've noticed some surprising things about them, and this book shares some of these "secrets", as an insider's guide.🧵

Change is in the air for BHL! In 2026, BHL hosting will transition away from the Smithsonian, opening doors to reimagine our future. Rest assured, our 63 million pages of biodiversity knowledge remain secure and accessible. Learn what's next for BHL ➡️

Charles Darwin is best known for his work on evolution. But he was a prolific scientist who studied much more. Now, over 20,000 of Darwin's letters, books and publications have been recognised as a UNESCO heritage. Find out what this means 👇 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

#MiniEggs vs the egg illustration master Henrik Grönvold (1858-1940) #Easter #Eggs #SpecialCollections #Oology

At the museum for natural history in Copenhagen, they have a wonderful reconstruction of Ole Worm's cabinet of curiosities - famously depicted in this print from 1655:

Sir Hans Sloane was born #OTD in 1660. A prominent physician and naturalist, Sloane used the profits from a cotton plantation in Jamaica to amass a huge personal collection of objects that would eventually form the basis of the Natural History Museum, the British Museum and the British Library.

Self-professed ‘hedgerow geek’ Megan Gimber is our John Spedan Lewis Emerging Leader Award 2025 winner! She has spent almost a decade advocating for the protection, management, and growth of the UK’s depleted hedgerows. @ptes-org.bsky.social @favcolourgreen.bsky.social www.linnean.org/the-...

For #InternationalBeaverDay 🦫: when taxidermy goes wrong 😬 Sarah Stone (1760-1844) drawings, mostly of zoological subjects, for Sir Ashton Lever's Museum, 1781-5: Plate 4, Beaver. NHM London: nhm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44... #WomenArtists #BadTaxidermy

A Country Life article on museum stores! 📜 www.countrylife.co.uk/luxury/art-a... Includes a section on NMS's National Museums Collection Store at Granton, north Edinburgh

#OTD in 1913, the #NHM Department of Entomology was set up (insects previously studied alongside arthropods in Zoology Dept). Charles J. Grahan was its first Keeper serving from 1913-1927, when Ernest Edward Austen took over and for whom this horse fly was illustrated by Grace Edwards #History #Art

Word of the day is ‘erumpent’ (17th century), which describes buds and blossom that are bursting forth with vigour. Can also be used of energetic humans.

Frederik Ruysch was born #OTD in 1638. Ruysch was primarily an anatomist, experimenting with and testing new ways to preserve and embalm specimens which could then be further used for study and teaching. But he also studied animals and was the first to describe the vomeronasal organ in snakes.

Come and see our new FREE exhibition: Naturalist Notebooks! A close look at the nature journals of naturalists through history displayed in our historic library. Open Tuesday-Friday, 10:00-17:00.

We are delighted to announce another fully-funded collaborative PhD studentship, this time in conjunction with @theul.bsky.social. "The Hidden Gender of Collections: Women and the Curation of Scientific Heritage". Deadline 30 April. See here for full details: phd.leeds.ac.uk/project/2233... #histsci

IT’S THE BEST Season! Beefly season is upon us folks #BeeflyWatch Yesterday they were spotted at @kneppwilding.bsky.social Tomorrow, my garden 🤓 Please go spotting these little beauties & add your records to either dipterists.org.uk/bee-fly-watch or #IRecord @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

One of the cutest engraved vignettes I’ve happened upon in a while - Italian priest and mycologist Giovanni Antonio Battarra’s first edition of his book Fungorum Agri Ariminensis Historia (1755). 248 species of #fungi described accompanied by 40 copper plates which he engraved by himself #rarebooks

Help your local British herbarium to join in the digitisation journey! My blog post in BSBi News bsbipublicity.blogspot.com/2025/03/help... with a plea to express interest in the DiSSCo UK programme engagementhub.ukri.org/ahrc-infrast...