Natural History Museum
Andy Mabbett
I shall have time to make a brief visit to the Natural History Museum,
soon.
Given that I only have about an hour or two, and am most interested in
bird and lepidoptera, which part(s) would people suggest I head for?
--
Andy Mabbett
USA imprisons children without trial, at Guantanamo Bay:
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2970279.stm>
<http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510582003?open&of=ENG-USA>
Malcolm
<usenet...@pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:
>
>I shall have time to make a brief visit to the Natural History Museum,
>soon.
>
>Given that I only have about an hour or two, and am most interested in
>bird and lepidoptera, which part(s) would people suggest I head for?
I'll contact them and suggest they might like to close the public
toilets then, I'm sure they could do without your lewd propositioning
of males in the WCs. Then that will give you more time to look round.
--
So, you dont like reasoned,
well thought out, civil debate?
I understand.
/´¯/)
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Stephen Poley
<usenet...@pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:
>I shall have time to make a brief visit to the Natural History Museum,
>soon.
>
>Given that I only have about an hour or two, and am most interested in
>bird and lepidoptera, which part(s) would people suggest I head for?
The bird section has a lot of specimens but is quite small in floor area
IIRC, so you can have a quick look round it in two minutes and decide
for yourself what you want to give a closer look.
--
Stephen Poley
uk.rec.birdwatching FAQ: http://www.xs4all.nl/~sbpoley/ukrb.htm
Keith Dancey
>
>I shall have time to make a brief visit to the Natural History Museum,
>soon.
>
>Given that I only have about an hour or two, and am most interested in
>bird and lepidoptera, which part(s) would people suggest I head for?
The avifauna section is quite small. Here is what I reported from a
visit in 2001:
From kgd Tue Aug 7 09:49:43 2001
Newsgroups: uk.rec.birdwatching
Subject: Re: Natural History Museum ideas
In article 280...@ananke.eclipse.net.uk, "Steve Foster" <steve...@hotmail.com> writes:
>Next Friday, 10th Aug, I shall hope to be able to visit the Natural History
>Museum, in London.
>
>I have never been before and wonder if anyone on the NG has any pointers
>about birding exhibits that I should look out for, as I will only have a few
>hours there.
There is an exhibition "hall" devoted to stuffed birds dating from around the
Victorian era. Some rare species are not real, but reconstructions from
various descriptions and other sightings. As you may imagine, they are
generally of a dusty nature, if I remember correctly, and in original pose
within original display cases.
Some impressive birds of prey are included, but the exhibit which stuck very
firmly in my mind was a case, maybe three to four square metres in size (ie
NOT small) stuffed full (if you forgive the expression:-( with the tiniest
humming birds, all perching on a very intricate "tree". There must have been
close to one hundred birds in that case alone...
The exhibits are no longer bright, but the sight of so many small birds in
one case is quite shocking.
There is a valuable comtemporary lesson, here, and it is not about anatomy:
it is the changing attitude toward wildlife brought about by the parlous
state our environment is in. The Museum does not celebrate the collection
for its completeness - it does not attempt to update it at all - but as an
historic relic from a different time, with different values.
In its day, of course, it served a useful, scientific purpose.
The gallery is fairly small: you can see around it quite leisurely in 15
minutes.
Also on a birding note, another exhibition: bird paintings by James Wolf.
This is possibly more interesting: Wolf was a pioneer of a style of bird
art which persists to this very day. I visited this exhibition, myself,
this summer. It is worth a walk around: Landseer described Wolf as "without
exception, the best all round animal artist who ever lived". I cannot
demur from that!
There are some extremely dramatic paintings: one featuring a pair of Gyr
Falcons killing another bird of prey (if I remember correctly) should hold
anyone for a little while.
James Wolf changed, for all time, the way animals and birds were depicted
in art. In doing so, he helped raise the consciousness of people towards
wildlife. It also changed James Wolf: he came to realise that Victorian
attitudes to other people and other animals were based on huge ignorance
and prejudice arising from, and in, a large amount of fear.
I lingered there for 30 minutes or more... but I needed a rest! It need
not take that long.
That should leave you a good hour to visit the exciting (kiddies:-) stuff:
escalator through the earth to the Kobe simulated earthquake supermarket
experience (I kid you not), the animatronic tyrannosaurus, the Dipldocus
skeleton, the Blue Whale...
And don't forget to appreciate the building: it is a gem.
(See http://www.nhm.ac.uk for an intro)
All the best,
keith
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Beware of electronic hippies who wish to destroy wildlife conservation
organisations ...they don't really care about wildlife at all
----------------------------------------------------------------------
---
Operation Iraqi Liberation - OIL, for short.
Graham Ramsay
> Also on a birding note, another exhibition: bird paintings by James Wolf.
His work still looks fresh today.
Info on (Josef) Wolf.
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/ornithology/exhibit/exhibit4b.htm
http://www.scientificillustrator.com/artists/bird/wolf.html
--
Graham Ramsay
You might be a Bright:
http://www.the-brights.net
Anne Burgess
> soon.
> Given that I only have about an hour or two, and am most interested in
> bird and lepidoptera, which part(s) would people suggest I head for?
I am unsure where to head for; but take earplugs with you in case there are
as many school parties as there were when we tried to visit some years ago.
The noise was deafening.
Also don't imagine you will be able to get near any of the
trendy/hands-on/interactive/child-orientated exhibits. You won't (unless you
go on a schoolday after school hours).
Hope you enjoy your visit.
Anne
Andy Mabbett
<usenet...@pigsonthewing.org.uk> writes
>I shall have time to make a brief visit to the Natural History Museum,
>soon.
Somebody contacted me off-line, and today I spent two hours enjoying a
remarkable behind- the- scenes tour!
Seeing moths bearing Darwin's fingerprint, brought back on the Beagle,
by him; and the actual specimens used by Linnaeus in drawing up his
classifications, ranks alongside the time I once held James Watt's
notebook - a day I shall never forget!
Robert Seago
Andy Mabbett <usenet...@pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:
> I shall have time to make a brief visit to the Natural History Museum,
> soon.
> Given that I only have about an hour or two, and am most interested in
> bird and lepidoptera, which part(s) would people suggest I head for?
The whole thing is great, much as I like lepidoptera, and there are
displays of them, they never look that good pinned IMO.
You will find some good features showing evolutionary steps in the birds,
along with the traditional stuffed birds. They now make a point of not
retouching the faded specimems anyway to emphasize their conservation role.
I would tend to look for all the newer displays.
Also stop outside to look at the stunning worldfromtheair deisplay.
Look it up on google first.
--
Regards from Robert Seago : http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/rjseago
Jonathan
> "Keith Dancey" wrote
> > Also on a birding note, another exhibition: bird paintings by James Wolf.
>
> His work still looks fresh today.
> Info on (Josef) Wolf.
> http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/ornithology/exhibit/exhibit4b.htm
> http://www.scientificillustrator.com/artists/bird/wolf.html
Sorry, a bit O/T, Wolf was an excellent artist IMO - but try:
http://www.andrewellisoriginalart.com/
for a tiny selection of his work. Better still, try to get a glimps of
Emma Ford's 'Gyrfalcon' book (it costs a packet!) which was
illustrated by Ellis and Anthony Rhodes. The illustrations are
incredible IMO.
Jonathan
Peter Ashby
Robert Seago <rjs...@zetnet.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <1+q4g823JcA$Ew...@pigsonthewing.org.uk>,
> Andy Mabbett <usenet...@pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:
>
> > I shall have time to make a brief visit to the Natural History Museum,
> > soon.
>
> > Given that I only have about an hour or two, and am most interested in
> > bird and lepidoptera, which part(s) would people suggest I head for?
If you have some time on another occasion the outstation at Tring in
Hertfordshire (off the A41) has a large collection of stuffed birds and
lots of eggs.
Peter
--
Peter Ashby
School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Scotland
To assume that I speak for the University of Dundee is to be deluded.
Reverse the Spam and remove to email me.