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Painted by my great grandfather, Thomas F Worrall c. 1895. This area is now a dark, shaded area. The open view is concealed by conifers.

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A blog by Suzanne Canally, Senior Library Assistant at Senate House Library positioning the Library's specimen-books of pressed seaweed within the Victorian algology craze. You can find the seaweed albums featured in the blog on this Padlet.

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Written by Suzanne Canally, Senior Library Assistant | 04 Nov 2021

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Uncommon objects: Seaweed Specimens A Source of Strength for Victorian Women

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Explore Senate House Library’s seaweed specimens & the Victorian algology craze...

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This photo shows my mother, Dorothy Hicks, with her cousin Kit (Kathleen) Reynolds and Kit’s future husband WAG Pace, on a Kings College London /LSE Joint school of Geography field trip. My mother’s parents did not allow her to take up her place as a student, instead making her work for her living as a Post Office clerk (a good safe job) so she used her holidays to join the Joint School field trips. She ended up meeting my father on one of those

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Clive James

Your death, near now, is of an easy sort.

So slow a fading out brings no real pain.
Breath growing short
Is just uncomfortable. You feel the drain
Of energy, but thought and sight remain:

Enhanced, in fact. When did you ever see
So much sweet beauty as when fine rain falls
On that small tree
And saturates your brick back garden walls,
So many Amber Rooms and mirror halls?

Ever more lavish as the dusk descends
This glistening illuminates the air.
It never ends.
Whenever the rain comes it will be there,
Beyond my time, but now I take my share.

My daughter’s choice, the maple tree is new.
Come autumn and its leaves will turn to flame.
What I must do
Is live to see that. That will end the game
For me, though life continues all the same:

Filling the double doors to bathe my eyes,
A final flood of colours will live on
As my mind dies,
Burned by my vision of a world that shone
So brightly at the last, and then was gone.

From Clive James' Sentenced To Life

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I have worked in Bloomsbury for a couple of decades now and have been lucky to spot a surprising array of wildlife. Despite the ever bolder urban foxes and magpies I've been lucky to see (and hear) a woodpecker on the green beside the Brunei Gallery one Saturday and this bird of prey (not sure which it is) on one of the upper floors of the Senate House building.

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Oak galls are used to make ink. Wandering though parks in late summer looking for oak galls on English oaks is one of my favourite pastimes. It's a real connection with medieval scribes!

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The picturesque style in landscape: Commodore Anson's Voyage Round the World (1740-44) and the island of Juan Fernandez 

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The picturesque style in landscape: Commodore Anson's Voyage Round the World (1740-44) and the island of Juan Fernandez 

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The hero of Jean Jacques Rousseau’s novel Julie ou la nouvelle Heloise (1761) sails with Anson, and on his return finds that the heroine has created an idyllic, English style, garden which reminds him of the wild paradises he had seen with Anson, Tinian and Juan Fernandez.
The image is Anson's Voyage Round the World, 1740-44, Printed in Dublin 1748; charts, views, etc.’ from a book owned by the writer Elizabeth Bowen from Bowen's Court near Kildorrery in County Cork, Ireland, gifted to Donal R. Cronin, school teacher in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, in 1968, returned to Co. Cork in 1977. Read article at https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/an-island-of-cosmopolitan-culture-ansons-voyage-round-the-world-and-the-library-at-bowens-court-co-cork/ (James Cronin, University College Cork)

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A digitized instant photo taken during a socially distanced walk in Summer 2020 after the easing of lockdown restrictions in France. A large family of fish in a lake.

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Polar bears walking in water in summer, 1853

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Polar bears walking in water in summer, 1853

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A small painting by Erasmus Augustine Kallihirua (c.1832-1856) who was an Inuit, originally named Qalasirssuaq, from Greenland. He acted as a guide on an 1850 expedition to find Sir John Franklin's lost expedition and returned with the expedition to England. He was baptised in England and sent this small picture to his godmother, Franklin's daughter Eleanor. It's impossible to know whether he was able to paint this whilst on board ship in the Arctic or whether it was painted in England from memory, but probably the latter.

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A digitized instant photo taken during a socially distanced walk in Spring 2020 after the easing of lockdown restrictions in France. Two yellow flowers and gras

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As a child I depended on Ladybird books to learn more about animals and plants. I love the illustrations, often by Charles Tunnicliffe. I still refer to the books on occasion! Sadly I can see how wildlife has changed, animals which were common then are sometimes quite rare now. This reflects an important factor in environmental history & wildlife conservation - shifting baselines!

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Swedish whitebeam leaf plucked by Maurice

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In a letter from 1216 the Bishop of Glenluce describes how one of his lay brothers in Galloway witnessed the aurora borealis, “He saw the full moon and a round shape, and at that very hour, as it were, a black and pale yellow line divided the moon into two parts.”

From the Chronica de Mailros (Edinburgh, 1835), p. 126 available in the IHR library.

I was also lucky to see this in Scotland too once.

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Green space comes with reminders. The hum of industry always in the background. Judah Attille, Collecting Nature Memories. 2021

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I’ve travelled long distances for wildlife encounters. However, some of my favourite nature memories have happened almost on my doorstep - fox cubs playing in the garden, a woodpecker on the bird feeder, a sparrowhawk catching a sparrow on my road, and spotting a Tawny owl’s tail poking out of an owl box in the wood behind my house.

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Printing with natural materials, Hapa Zome - Leaf dye (with blackberries)

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As part of a Forest School Programme children 'explore' their school grounds. Awe was discovered in the seasons colours.
https://www.services.derbyshire.gov.uk/EnvStudies

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A long-lost Canadian botanical collection

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A long-lost Canadian botanical collection

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In the early 1860s, a young Canadian woman created a roughly 500-sheet collection of plant specimens gathered in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Kate Crooks' collection was exhibited in London at the International Exhibition of 1862, as part of the Canadian government's official contribution to the event. Sadly, only one of Crooks' specimens is believed to have survived the 150 years since her death. A specimen of Sabatia angularis (Rosepink) is held in Montréal at McGill University, and is believed to be the only Canadian collection of this plant (which is now extinct in Canada). Crooks herself is similarly unknown today. Read more about this trailblazing botanist here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/botanist-ontario-kate-crooks

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In the spring of 1860, Catharine McGill Crooks paused on the banks of Mill Creek, in what is now Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. Pulling a narrow tool from her belt, Crooks lifted several stems of watercress ( Nasturtium officinale) from the silty creek bed, before slipping them into a vasculum-a slim box outfitted with leather straps like a backpack. Later, she pressed these few, wet strands between sheets of heavy paper, before carefully mounting the dried plants with a solution of gum arabic and water.

Crooks repeated this process hundreds of times, preparing a sizable collection of award-winning specimens which were exhibited at home and abroad. Collecting rare native plants and introduced species alike, Crooks captured a valuable record of southwestern Ontario's flora before industrialization, large-scale agriculture, and urban sprawl erased much of the region's wild spaces forever. Yet despite her dedication and skill, these treasures have all but vanished.

Who is Catharine McGill Crooks, and what happened to her collection?

Traveling between the Canadian cities of London, St. Thomas, Hamilton, and Galt (now Cambridge), Crooks prepared roughly 500 sheets of dried botanical specimens, including plants collected in Hamilton by her brother-in-law Alexander Logie. Talented and ambitious, Crooks's observations were cited in numerous publications, including the Geological Survey of Canada's Catalogue of Canadian Plants-now considered the "ultimate in historic Canadian floras." Posthumously described as "a most enthusiastic botanist," Catharine Crooks-also known as Kate-fell into obscurity in the years following her death, leaving just a few tantalizing traces of her life and work.

Kate Crooks never achieved the reputation of the iconic Canadian author Catharine Parr Traill, whose 1885 book Studies of Plant Life in Canada was once called a triumph of nature writing. Nor is she as celebrated as Mary Delany, Beatrix Potter, and Anna Atkins, 18th- and 19th-century naturalists who skillfully merged their passions for art and science. Nonetheless, in the last years of pre-confederation Canada, Crooks's work contributed to a burgeoning understanding of the Canadian flora.

Born in February 1833, Crooks was raised in Newark, Upper Canada (now Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario). Part of a large extended family of Scottish immigrants to Canada, Crooks was brought up by her mother and sisters after her father John, a postmaster and church elder, died of scarlet fever in March 1833.

As their mother's health, too, began to fail, Crooks's sisters turned the family home into a private school, educating local girls from prominent families. Margaret Crooks was just 16 when she formed the school with her younger sisters Mary and Susan. Having watched their late father teach a lively Sunday school, the girls were primed to follow in his footsteps. Kate and another sister, Augusta, were likely among their first pupils.

Little is known about the years that followed, until 1861, when Kate Crooks, then 28, joined the Botanical Society of Canada. Crooks identified over two dozen plants for her brother-in-law's flora of Hamilton, including rare species such as Canada lily ( Lilium canadense) and smooth false foxglove ( Aureolaria flava). In the 1950s, Dr. Leslie Laking, then Director of Canada's Royal Botanical Gardens at Burlington, Ontario, described the paper as "one of a few standard references for Ontario flora" at the time of its publication.

Crooks's career reached new heights in 1862, when her collection of dried botanical specimens was displayed at the International Exhibition in London, England. She received an Honorable Mention for her work, which was exhibited alongside samples of Canadian wheat, wine, and forestry products.

Following the International Exhibition, several items from the Canadian display were donated to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, in London, England-but contemporary records indicate that Crooks's work was not among these gifts.

So where are these specimens today?

I began my search with several databases specializing in biodiversity data-GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), the Mid-Atlantic Herbaria Consortium, and Canadensys among them-but as a librarian, I know these tools have limits.

Every cataloguer has a to-do pile of items waiting to be catalogued. With this in mind, I also emailed herbarium curators in Canada and abroad, hoping I might uncover a lead. What followed was a litany of responses familiar to anyone working in memory institutions.

"Unfortunately, a very small percentage of the specimens in our collection have been catalogued," replied one curator.

"None of Crooks's specimens are in our database-of course, that doesn't mean we don't have any, but does make them very hard to find," added another.

"Sorry I haven't replied sooner. Lots going on and not enough people."

Finally, I received an email from Dr. Frieda Beauregard, curator of the McGill University Herbarium in Montreal, Quebec. Earlier, I had located a promising specimen held at McGill's herbarium. Collected in 1865 by an M. Crooks, the date and surname matched. But who was M. Crooks? Dr. Beauregard's email confirmed: The collector was not M. Crooks, but Miss Crooks.

Commonly known as rose pink, Sabatia angularis is an appealing wildflower native to North America. Rising to a height of one-and-a-half to two feet, on subtly angled stems, its star-shaped, pink blossoms carry five yellow stamens apiece. Its overall conservation status is considered secure, but rose pink is now endangered in the state of New York, and is considered locally extinct in Ontario.

In July 1865, a Miss Crooks-likely Kate Crooks-cut a single stem of rose pink in the city of Hamilton, roughly 40 miles west of Toronto. Today, this specimen is still the only documented collection of rose pink from the province of Ontario. Fixed to the page in a spray of pink-rimmed blossoms, it is likely the last botanical specimen Crooks prepared as Miss Crooks. The 32-year-old married William Lynn Smart, a British-born barrister, on July 3, 1865.

Crooks continued to work after her wedding, and in the autumn of 1866, she participated in the Provincial Agricultural Fair at Toronto's Crystal Palace. As Mrs. Smart, her work was noted in the trade publication The Canada Farmer. "Mrs. Smart, of Yorkville, displayed... a very good collection of dried native plants. It was, of course, impossible to look through the whole of it, but in our brief examination we discovered some rare varieties which would gladden the heart of a botanist."

Three weeks later, Crooks gave birth to her first child.

Crooks and her husband had three children in all, but like her father before her, she did not live to see them grow. In 1871, eight days after the birth of her son William Catharinus Gregory Smart, Crooks died in Toronto at the age of 38.

Forgotten as a botanist, Crooks left her mark on history in other ways. Shortly after her death, Crooks's husband and young children were sued by three of her four sisters. All widows, they contested the terms of their sister's will based on her status as a married woman. Crooks's cousin Adam-a provincial legislator and Ontario's Attorney General-leapt into action, drafting the Married Women's Real Estate Act. Passed into Ontario law two years after his cousin's death, the Act gave married women the right to open their own bank accounts, apply for life insurance, and dispose of their own property without a husband's permission.

The Toronto Daily Mail mocked Adam Crooks, writing, "...for these, the first principles of revolution, the 'strong-minded' matron of a future day may teach her infants to lisp the name of Crooks." While the historian Dr. Lori Chambers has observed that the Act was "a remedial measure intended for women's protection, not their emancipation," it is Kate Crooks, not Adam, who can be given full credit for these "first principles of revolution".

There is one known photograph of Catharine McGill Crooks. Shot in Hamilton by the daguerreotypist Robert Milne, Crooks stands tall against a brightly-lit backdrop. Her dress is voluminous-dark and bustled-while her hair tumbles in tight, shiny curls. Serene and self-possessed, she resembles a Victorian Mona Lisa.

Had she survived the birth of her third child, it's not hard to imagine Crooks continuing her work once her children had grown. Inspired by Catharine Parr Traill, she might have written memoirs of life in the field. She might have explored photography or botanical illustration. Or she might have returned to the woods and meadows of her youth, building a new body of work in the process. While Crooks's botanical observations offer a glimpse of the landscape around her, finding any more of her lost specimens would offer new opportunities for scientific and historical research. As Dr. Beauregard told me, plant specimens provide much stronger evidence than records based on observation alone. For now, a dormant legacy rests like seeds in the earth, waiting for the first days of spring.

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In Ontario, a Quest to Rediscover the Work of a Groundbreaking 19th-Century Botanist

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In the spring of 1860, Catharine McGill Crooks paused on the banks of Mill Creek, in what is now Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. Pulling a narrow tool from her belt, Crooks lifted several stems of watercress ( Nasturtium officinale) from the silty creek bed, before slipping them into a vasculum-a slim box outfitted with leather straps like a backpack.

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Botanical cyanotypes from New Hampshire, USA

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Botanical cyanotypes from New Hampshire, USA

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This gorgeous album of botanical cyanotypes is in a private collection, but has been digitised and is available on photoseed.com. In 2019, I wrote an article about their creator, Helen Chase Gage; a young girl on her summer holidays. In the albums (which function as both a herbarium and a unique photographic collection), Gage wrote, "I will answer the question that will probaly [sic] come to your mind...”, describing her process, and the inspiration for her project--her science teacher. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/botanical-photograph-cyanotype-blueprint-past

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It's the summer of 1929. In a few months, the New York Stock Exchange will collapse, and a new generation of American photographers-Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, among others-will soon capture the pain and uncertainty of those displaced by the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.

But in Rye, New Hampshire, a young girl is crouching on the shoreline, gathering flowers for a series of photographs inspired by some of the medium's earliest explorers. She is working with photography at its most elemental-capturing sunlight on a sheet of paper washed with salts and fixed in water.

Helen Chase Gage was born in Bronxville, New York, in 1917. She studied art history and fashion at Brooklyn's Pratt Institute, and later worked as an executive at the Westchester branch of Lord & Taylor.

Gage was also an active member of the Bronxville League for Service, a philanthropic organization that founded and staffed a dental clinic for low-income patients and once purchased an ambulance for the local hospital. As a volunteer, Gage hosted sewing circles, organized fundraising galas, and worked as the league's archivist.

But her buzzing professional and social lives belie her earliest self-expression, as a photographer.

In that summer of 1929, Gage, then 12 years old, created the first of two albums of botanical cyanotypes. Using plants she found on her family's summer estate, Gage prepared a stunning series of photograms. These unique images trace the buds of a larkspur, the curl of a leaf, and a blob of nasturtium, seemingly floating in a pool of the deepest Prussian blue.

Gage came up with the idea for the project just before her summer holidays, when she watched Anna Greve, head of life sciences at Bronxville Elementary School, turn a sheet of blueprint paper into a light-sensitive canvas. So inspired, Gage wrote, "I asked Daddy to get me some blue print paper. One week end when he came up to the country he brought me a yard square."

Gage's project flourished over two summers at Sagamore Farm, the holiday home on Odiorne Point that her mother bought in 1918. The gardens there were full of summer-blooming plants for Gage to gather-poppies, pinks, and the aptly named Helen's flower. A grove of sugar maples stood on either side of the road leading to Sagamore Farm, which Gage used to make a constellation of leaf prints.

Working on the shores of the Gulf of Maine, Gage experimented with a photographic technique that dates back to 1842. While Sir John Herschel, a British chemist and astronomer, created the cyanotype process, it was Herschel's friend, Anna Atkins, who established the medium as an essential tool for scientific illustration. In 1843, Atkins published the first of eight volumes of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, thought to be the first book primarily illustrated with photographs.

Gage's 1929 album includes a charming, handwritten introduction that describes her process to the viewer. "I will answer the question that will probaly [sic] come to your mind," writes Gage:
How do you use it? You put the leaf or whatever you want to print on the glass and then put the blue print paper on top. Put it in the sun untill [sic] it turns white. Take it out of the case and put it in a pan of water untill [sic] it turns blue. Then take it out of the water and let it dry and your blue print is all done.
When the family returned to Sagamore Farm the following summer, Gage prepared another album. Decorated in a handmade, block-printed fabric, the album functions as an herbarium and a photo collection in one. It also demonstrates Gage's technical and conceptual growth from one year to the next, creating an unusual botanical and photographic record in the process.

Of course, those bucolic summer days couldn't last. As the Second World War loomed, the U.S. government expropriated Odiorne Point, driving a dozen families-including the Gages-from their land. The site is now Odiorne Point State Park, where the stone foundations of Sagamore Farm lie alongside the decommissioned remnants of wartime fortification. Tansy, a wildflower Gage once collected in the area, still grows along the salty shoreline.

Gage lived with her parents for most of her life, but married in 1970, at age 52. In their wedding portrait, Gage-haloed by a short, white veil-beams happily as she stands with her husband, a Bronxville man named Arthur W. Miller. The couple was married for nearly 12 years before Gage died, in 1982, at the age of 64.

Thirty-six years later, in 2018, a collector named David Spencer bought Gage's cyanotype albums-previously owned by her younger brother, Edward Augustus Gage -from a New Hampshire dealer.

Gage's pastoral summers are immortalized by these albums she made as a girl. Referencing some of the earliest experiments in botanical photography, she breathed new life into the genre while establishing a creative voice that would serve her well throughout her relatively short life.

This is what Helen Chase Gage did on her summer vacation.

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These Stunning Botanical Images Are Blueprints of the Past

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It's the summer of 1929. In a few months, the New York Stock Exchange will collapse, and a new generation of American photographers-Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, among others-will soon capture the pain and uncertainty of those displaced by the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.

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I got rid of my lawn a couple of years ago, and have since been filling my garden with perennial beds. I leave a few untended areas around the garden, where I have discovered more than a few spontaneous additions! Native plants like Blue Vervain and Willowherb have "blown in", and I recently discovered this seedling, which I think might be Cornus alternifolia; in the Dogwood family. I look forward to seeing more plants appear as I allow the garden to naturalise!

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A watercolour landscape with a fireball, Northern Ireland 1969

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A watercolour landscape with a fireball, Northern Ireland 1969

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'Impression of the exploding meteor over Coney Island, on Friday night (9:20pm approx)'

An eyewitness's artistic impression of the fireball crossing the skies over Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland on 25th April 1969, along with detailed information on the observation – including a note on the sound ('Explosion 2 minutes later').

The extraordinary event was a catalyst for many reports – letters, phone calls, sketches – providing a snapshot of a single evening from many different points of view.

From Armagh Observatory & Planetarium collection: ARM BVD 1.17

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After two years stuck in the city, a two-week trip to Scotland was exactly what I needed to relax and restore my energy. And it's the nature memories like these that will keep me going in the months to come.

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Lyrics from Ewan MacColl's 'Manchester Rambler' (1932)

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Inspired by MacColl's involvement in the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass in April 1932. Full of local place names and details, learned from his many walks in the Peak District. Evokes a strong emotional connection between walkers and natural environments. Reprinted here in a 1963 edition of 'The Rucksack' journal.

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Trametes orchracea by Endymion Bennett, Appliqué with felting and stitching.

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I love the textles created by he volunteers for 'Stitching Botanical' at the National Botanic Garden of Wales.Over 80 volunteers meeting twice a month have created five special collections featuring Welsh county flowers, rare Welsh plants, medicinal plants, habitats, pollinating insects, meadow plants, and many beautiful fungi. Many have the Welsh names. They are shared on the Welsh Government's People's Collection Wales website, where anyone can create an account and upload material relating to Wales: https://www.peoplescollection.wales/users/33406

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The first ever audio recording of a sonic boom caused by a fireball cruising through the atmosphere (note the typo on the date: should read April 25, 1969).

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"Miss Eileen M. Brown, of Bangor, an employee of the Telephone Exchange in Belfast, in pursuit of her hobby of recording bird songs, was on that evening exposing as usual her tape recorder in the garden when the idyllic evening calls of the birds were suddenly interrupted by thunder. She thought, indeed, that it was thunder albeit from a clear sky. Yet her father's dog thought differently – instead of panicking and seeking refuge at his master's feet as in the case of real thunder, he did not show any sign of alarm."

Three strong sharp detonations can be heard two thirds of the way through the recording, after car noise passing in the street and followed by the barking of a frightened dog.

Eileen Brown kindly donated this recording to Armagh Observatory & Planetarium for public use.

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Dying Bolma rugosa displaying its operculum.

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I am lucky to have spent my childhood summers in a small coastal town in western Turkey. That is where my love of nature originated and developed. I collected seashells on the beach. There was one object that was frequently cast ashore that intrigued me. It had a spiral structure, but it was definitely not a shell. Its spiral turns and pinkish color reminded me of a human ear. So I called them "sea ears", but never figured out what they actually were. Many years passed during which I went to college and learned English. One day in a bookstore I saw a small paperback book called Seashells by Peter Dance. I bought it and read it. It had pictures of the opercula of snail shells. I learned that snails built and used these structures to seal their shells. The operculum in one of the drawings reminded me of my "sea ears". I finally knew what they were!

Eventually, the study of snails became a scientific hobby. A few years ago I was back in Turkey and one day went beachcombing. While walking along the rocky coast, I saw a large snail in shallow water. It had its aperture up; a position they usually take when they are dying. I picked up the snail and noticed the bright orange operculum in its aperture. My childhood memories flashed before my eyes. Upon reaching home, I saved the snail, which was Bolma rugosa, a common Mediterranean species, in alcohol. Subsequently, I donated the specimen to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., where I am a research associate.

Although randomness seems to rule our lives, there is also a continuum that permeates and connects.

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My friend and I like to create found art when we are on holiday and send each other pictures. This is an assemblage from Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. I collected wool clinging to standing stones at Calanais where sheep had been scratching themselves and the limpet, rock and seaweed stalk from the beach at Aird Uig. Presented on a slate board that was in our holiday cottage.

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The Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club of Herefordshire

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The Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club of Herefordshire

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The Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club of Herefordshire was founded in 1851. Their latest 'Transactions' volume (2020) includes two essays, by Rachel Jenkins & Tom Wall, which compare archive Club records with surveys of wildlife populations today.

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Where The Wild Things Were, Tees Valley Wildlife Trust

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"The project set out to record people’s memories of their childhoods, focusing in particular on the free-range experiences that were so common back in the 1950’s and 60’s but seem less accessible now. Memories and reminiscences have helped to plot where particular species were found, such as slow worms, red squirrels and wild flowers"

Read more about it on this blog post from the Teesside Archives

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Click on an icon on the map to view a memory! Use the timeline above to explore other decades of memories. If you want to submit your own memory in East Cleveland, double click on the map where your memory is from e.g. Boosbeck, to pen our submission form.

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Click on an icon on the map to view a memory! Use the timeline above to explore other decades of memories. If you want to submit your own memory in East Cleveland, double click on the map where your memory is from e.g. Boosbeck, to pen our submission form.

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On the evening of 25th April 1969, Noel was playing football in the street with friends when the falling meteorite tore low across the skies of West Belfast. They all stood transfixed as the early evening sky was fiercely illuminated by the magnificent fireball streaking above their heads.

Artist Noel Connor produced a multimedia exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of Bovedy meteorite in 2019, taking cues from the meteorite, but primarily from his memories of the day, the year, and the years that came after.

https://noelconnor.com/portfolios/the-bovedy-illuminations/

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‘The Bovedy Illuminations’ | Noel Connor – Artist and Poet

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The Armagh Planetarium and the Market Place Theatre and Arts Centre (13th April – 23rd May 2019) and The Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy, Co. Derry (26th October 2019).

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"Here was our bathing place from this point to the bend of the river a little higher up, where it turns abruptly to the left. What do you think of it? Not much? Still it was better than no bathing place at all, although when there were twenty or thirty boys in the brook it was rather more than water we were bathing in – it almost amounted to mud. One mouthful of that discoloured liquid was quite sufficient to satisfy any craving for more.

The deepest point is at the higher bend. A tree used to stand on the edge of the bank and the diving place was from one of its branches into the hole.  A fellow had to make a sharp dive with a rapid rise or his hands stuck in the mud past his wrists as mine once happened to do."

from History of Crewkerne School (1899)
Institute of Historical Research Library, collection of edited primary sources)

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Art of the lost and the rare. Artwork and illustrations of extinct and endangered animal species from the collections of ZSL Library & Archives

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Art of the lost and the rare. Artwork and illustrations of extinct and endangered animal species from the collections of ZSL Library & Archives

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This indicates the range of illustrative material in our historic special collections. ZSL’s collections of art mainly depict animals for scientific purposes often newly discovered species. In the 19th century the best professional zoological artists were engaged by ZSL to illustrate its scientific work and their paintings form a major part of our collection. Equally interesting are the donations from people who worked overseas, especially in India. These drawings demonstrate such a passion for natural history with many individuals making or commissioning hundreds of paintings of animals. We also have an extensive collection of printed books containing illustrations as well as the many images in our journals 'Transactions' and 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society': https://www.zsl.org/blogs/artefact-of-the-month/lost-and-the-rare-illustrations-of-extinct-and-endangered-animals

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In this blog I am highlighting some of the original art works in ZSL's collections depicting animals which are under threat or are extinct. As so many people did not have the opportunity to visit our exhibition in November 2018 I decided to blog about some of the art works we featured.

Both science and art are so vital to human culture. The value of art in communicating science is increasingly being recognised and valued. Arts and sciences help people to reconnect with nature and to take action to protect it.

ZSL's collections of art mainly depict animals for scientific purposes often newly discovered species. In the 19th century the best professional zoological artists were engaged by ZSL to illustrate its scientific work and their paintings form a major part of our collection. Equally interesting are the donations from people who worked overseas, especially in India. These drawings demonstrate such a passion for natural history with many individuals making or commissioning hundreds of paintings of animals.

I hope that viewing these art works will encourage you to support ZSL's purpose to inspire, inform and empower people to stop wild animals going extinct.

Some of the art works in the exhibition have featured in previous blogs so I have focussed on those we have not highlighted before.

I find particularly striking the often vivid colours, especially of birds. Early photography was black and white whilst museum specimens can fade but in these paintings you can appreciate the sometimes dazzling colours of the extinct species as we can see in the pink headed ducks painted by Henry Jones. Compare these with the black and white photographs from our collections.

Pink headed duck - critically endangered, not seen in the wild since 1949. By Henry Jones, circa 1896-1921.

Joseph Wolf (1820-1899) was born in Germany into a farming family where he acquired his lifelong love of wildlife. He trained as an artist and lithographer. His magnificent paintings of birds of prey, in life size for H. Schlegel and A.H. Verster van Wulverhorst's famous book Traité de Fauconnerie (1844-53), sealed Wolf's reputation on the Continent but there were greater opportunities for natural history artists in England. Wolf did not hesitate when he was encouraged to come to London in 1848 by D.W. Mitchell to share with him the illustration of G.R. Gray's Genera of birds (1844-49). Mitchell was also the Secretary of ZSL and wanted an accurate artistic record of its newly acquired and attractive animals. Wolf got that commission too; the start of a life-long association with ZSL. In 1848 ZSL's scientific journal, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (PZS) was published with colour illustrations for the first time. Over the next 30 years Wolf produced 340 colour plates for the Proceedings which were some of the most attractive ever published. This painting was conserved and remounted by paper conservators pH7 with funds from the Michael Marks Trust.

Joseph Smit (1836-1929) was a zoological artist and lithographer, providing many plates for the publications of the Zoological Society. His son Pierre Jacques Smit (1863-1960) was also a zoological artist.

ZSL Library contains handwritten and illustrated manuscripts of artist Samuel Richard Tickell (1809- 1875) There are 14 volumes, one volume on mammals, one about fish, one devoted to reptiles, crustaceans and insects, the other 11 volumes are devoted to birds.The volumes have been digitised and the scans can be accessed via our online catalogue so now they can be viewed and used around the world for both research and enjoyment.

Tickell served with British army in India and Burma, rising to the rank of Colonel, and devoted his spare time to painting and describing the fauna of the places where he was stationed. Tickell was Honorary Fellow of ZSL. He was related to Brian Houghton Hodgson through marriage. His sister married William Hodgson, Brian's brother. Tickell was commander of Hodgson's military escort to Kathmandu from 1834. He visited Hodgson for 8 months in 1840, leaving early 1841. Tickell influenced the artists employed by Hodgson. See An introduction to Brian Houghton Hodgson to find out more.

The IUCN have recently re-categorised the American horseshoe crab as vulnerable.

Little is known about New Zealand illustrator, L.A. Daff, but she prepared many illustrations for publication in New Zealand birds by W.R.B. Oliver (1930). She was responsible for the front covers of the magazine Forest and bird'(a New Zealand nature journal) from 1933-1937. Three issues of Avicultural Magazine were illustrated with colour plates of Australasian birds - Kea, Norfolk Island Parakeet and Ruffed (or Solitary) Lory - by Miss Daff in 1934 and 1937

A number of paintings depicting endangered species are permanently displayed in ZSL Library and Archives including :

Tigress triptych by Helen Cowcher, circa 1970

Clouded leopard reclining by J. Winkler, circa 1950

Guy the gorilla by William Timyn, circa 1980

Two tigers by Lilian Cheviot, circa 1900

Maned wolf by John Murray Thompson, 1943 - near threatened

Philippine eagle by George Edward Lodge, 1944 - critically endangered

Dodo in landscape with animals by Roelandt Savery. c1629. (Dodo extinct 1662)

ZSL Library has an extensive collection of art works and further details can be found in our online catalogue , select the `Search Artworks' button on the sidebar of the catalogue to search specifically for art works.

Other blogs featuring art works displayed in our exhibition :-

Discovering fishes of India : the Francis Day collection of drawings

Celebrating the Chinese Giant Salamander

Asian lions by Edward Lear
Tibetan Antelope by Brian Hodgson
If you are visiting ZSL London Zoo do take the opportunity to admire Art on the EDGE in the East Tunnel. These paintings by street artist Louis Masai, depict six EDGE (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered) species - Philippine eagle, olm, pygmy three-toed sloth, green sawfish, Lake Oku clawed frog and gharial.

I have used the IUCN categories when stating whether particular animals are extinct or endangered etc. Do find out more about these species in the IUCN red list https://www.iucnredlist.org/

ZSL Prince Philip Zoological Library & Archives is a wonderful and unique information resource about animals and their conservation - we aim to inspire, inform, and empower people to stop wild animals going extinct. Information is vitally important in conservation.

Our collections can be explored and discovered in a variety of ways -

ZSL Library & Archives Christmas Closure

We will close on Friday 21 December 2018 and reopen on Monday 14 January.
Please note that although we will be open week beginning 17 December 2018 there will be no access to our Special Collections.

Season's Greetings from ZSL Library & Archives.

Thanks to Ann Datta for additional information and James Godwin for photography.

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Art of the lost and rare : art works of extinct and endangered animals

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In this blog I am highlighting some of the original art works in ZSL's collections depicting animals which are under threat or are extinct. As so many people did not have the opportunity to visit our exhibition in November 2018 I decided to blog about some of the art works we featured.

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Collection of the Schomburgkia in Colombia. Edouard-Francois André and Édouard Riou, Le Tour du Monde, 1878.

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Hunting Orchids in the Northern Andes in the late 19th century.

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Hunting Orchids in the Northern Andes in the late 19th century.

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Orchidomania was a phenomenon in Victorian era. British were obsessed with orchids and "hunted" them in the tropics to bring them back to Britain. The Tropical Northern Andes (Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela) were some of the most desirable places to gather these plants with a huge environmental impact.
Albert Millican, one of these orchid hunters in Colombia in 1891, describes his method and the role of locals to secure specimens: "we provided natives with axes and started them out on the work of cutting down all trees containing valuable orchids". After two months "we had secured about ten thousand plants, cutting down to obtain these some four thousand trees, moving our camps as the plants became exhausted in the vicinity"

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Images of human/nature interaction, Hackney 2020-2021

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I am a city dweller by location and temperament, but I enjoy seeing the many ways nature interacts with city environments and people, be it via overgrown graveyards, canal-side bridges, or in the parks and green spaces. These are some recent, personal memories of such city nature depicted in photos taken on my daily walks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Illustrations of the European badger, The Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo, Series B, pt.IV-V-2

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Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588-1657), a Roman patron and collector, dedicated his life to assembling a 'Paper Museum' of c.10,000 watercolours, drawings and prints, in an attempt to portray human knowledge in visual form.

The project to publish the Paper Museum was funded by the Royal Collection Trust and was based at the Warburg Institute.

Dal Pozzo's collection on natural history required thirteen individual volumes, including no fewer than three volumes dedicated to fungi. The resulting catalogue raisonée is carefully researched and beautifully illustrated.

Find out more on the Paper Museum website: https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/research-projects/archived-research-projects/paper-museum-cassiano-dal-pozzo-1588-1657

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Cassiano vol. B-IV-V-2, pl.210-212. European badger

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe, Spain - Grabado con un elefante y un perro echado a sus pies 

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe, Spain - Grabado con un elefante y un perro echado a sus pies 

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Finding aid here

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Botanical artists in the collections at National Museum Wales

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Botanical artists in the collections at National Museum Wales

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The Museum's collection of botanical illustrations consists of more than 9,000 prints and drawings. Many of the works in the collection have fascinating and courageous stories linked to them. In particular, there are stories of the women artists who took part in scientific discovery.

Learn more about our Botany Collections on our website - https://museum.wales/curatorial/natural-sciences/botany/

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The Museum's collection of botanical illustrations consists of more than 9,000 prints and drawings. Many of the works in the collection have fascinating and courageous stories linked to them. In particular, there are stories of the women artists who took part in scientific discovery.
A combination of neglect and dismissal of these women artists has undermined their achievements and their contribution to the science and art of botanical illustration.

Women's role in botanical illustration

It was sometimes thought that botanical illustration was only for women with time on their hands, who dabbled in a spot of watercolours before ordering afternoon tea! This might have been true for some, but not all. Several intrepid and independent women emerged as accomplished botanical illustrators.

The 17th century

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was one of the finest botanical artists of her time.

From an early age, Maria was interested in insects and caterpillars, and the plants on which they fed. It is believed that her uncle had a silk factory that led to her fascination in the life cycle of the silk worm.

In 1679, she published the first of three volumes on European insects illustrated with her own engravings. Her careful and deliberate portrayal of insect and host plant together established a precedent in scientific literature.

After 17 years of marriage, Maria left her husband and joined an exclusive sect called the Labadists in a castle in the Netherlands. In 1698 Maria sold her collection to fund an expedition to study and describe insects in their native habitat.

For two years she devoted all her time to discovering and drawing many new plants and insects. Eventually she returned to Europe due to ill health and was working on some drawings when she died of a stroke aged seventy.

The 18th century

Elizabeth Blackwell (1700-1758) was recognised as an accomplished artist. Her husband was sent to debtors prison for two years after he opened a print shop in London without the required apprenticeship.

Looking for a way to save them from their financial difficulties, Elizabeth was encouraged by Sir Hans Sloane, President of the Royal Society, to produce a definitive herbal of medicinal plants. Elizabeth embarked on this major project, engraved her own images on copper plates and then hand-coloured the prints herself.

This prodigious task was entitled A Curious Herbal. The first volume included 500 plates and was published in 1738.

Although her drawing is not exceptional, it was an excellent record for its time and its success lay in fulfilling a need for identification.

The 19th century

The Victorian era was a time of great progress. The expansion of the British Empire meant that many new and exotic plants were being sent to Britain.

Upper class women often published books anonymously, since it was considered shameful to link a woman's name to any commercial venture.

An excellent illustration of this point is an 1849 book entitled Specimens of the Flora of South Africa by a Lady . This 'Lady' was visiting South Africa with her husband and to amuse herself she painted the exotic flora of the region. She published the volume anonymously until it became known the author was Lady Arabella Roupell.

Berthe Hoola van Nooten (fl. late 1800s) also published her work to make ends meet. Her husband died while they were travelling in Java, leaving her alone to bring up two daughters. In 1863, she published The fruits and flowers of Java, which has vibrant and strong illustrations.

In accordance with the social traditions of the day, Berthe writes an apologia in the introduction, explaining she has been forced to utilize her talents as a botanical artist as a buffer against 'penury and a refuge in sorrow.'

This is an illuminating insight into the expectations and status of women in the 19th century.

Miss Sarah Anne Drake (1803-1857) became an accomplished botanical artist and produced an enormous body of work. Her specialism was orchids and she contributed magnificent plates to Bateman's Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala - one of the most famous orchid books ever published. Perhaps the most esteemed results of her career were the 1,100 splendid plates she executed for Sydenham Edwards' Botanical Register. The Australian orchid 'Drakea' is named in her honour.

Jane Webb Loudon (1807-1858) was orphaned at the age of 17. In order to support herself, she wrote a novel set in the 21st century called The Mummy.

This caught the attention of John Loudon, a well-respected landscape gardener who Jane later married. Finding many of her husband's gardening books too technical, she wrote Instructions in Gardening for Ladies (1840) in clear simple language. This book proved extremely popular, selling more than 20,000 copies.
She went on to write The Ladies Flower-Garden in 1840 and Botany for Ladies in 1842.

Anna Maria Hussey's (1805-1877) most important work was Illustrations of British Mycology, published in 1847-9 in two volumes. The book includes a series of colour plates accompanied by biological information and general commentary, blending science, anecdote and literary reference. The puffball Husseia is named in her honour.

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A passion for plants: botanical illustration by women artists

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The Museum's collection of botanical illustrations consists of more than 9,000 prints and drawings. Many of the works in the collection have fascinating and courageous stories linked to them. In particular, there are stories of the women artists who took part in scientific discovery.

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Hirase - One thousand kinds of shells existing in Japan

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Hirase - One thousand kinds of shells existing in Japan

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The book is Kai Chigusa, but is more commonly known as Kai sen shu (or The Illustrations of a Thousand Shells in English) by Yoichirō Hirase (1859–1925), and was produced from 1914-1922.

Hirase was a Japanese conchologist who assembled the largest collection of shells in Japan at the turn of the century, and established his own shell museum (the Hirase Conchological Museum) in Kyoto from 1913 to 1919.

We purchased this copy of Kai Chigusa from Antiquariaat Junk in 1999 to add to our Tomlin Molluscan Library. Hirase communicated with many key shell collectors, including John Read le Brockton Tomlin, and the Tomlin archive contains a number of letters, postcards and photos from him.

You can read more here - One thousand kinds of shells existing in Japan | National Museum Wales

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The Illustrations of a Thousand Shells | Collections at Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales

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Letter and drawing from Gerard in Downpatrick, age 12

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'I was up by the field when I saw a bright light in the sky.'

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'I was up by the field when I saw a bright light in the sky.'

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'I was up by the field when I saw a bright light in the sky. I looked up and it was going very fast. It came down and bits of it broke up. It was red and yellow and after it hit the ground about 10 seconds later there was a great bang. It was near 9 o’clock.

Gerard Trainor [AGE 12]

I seen it by [address redacted] green up by the field.

This it what it looked like to me.

[PLACE – DOWNPATRICK]'

The people who sent in their reports range from schoolboys, soldiers, sailors to nuns, farmers, retirees.

From Armagh Observatory & Planetarium collection: ARM BVD 1.20

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This late-breaking news, covering the period 1790 to the 1840s, includes details of Scotland's natural environment, as well as much else, parish by parish.

It has been used extensively by Professor Chris Smout, of special interest here in his Exploring Environmental History, published by Edinburgh University Press in 2011.

See also, Smout, T. C., Stewart, M. (2012). The Firth of Forth: An Environmental History. Birlinn.

Free, online access to the Accounts is available at
https://stataccscot.edina.ac.uk/static/statacc/dist/home

I'm proud to have had a hand in that ;)

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Extract from weather readings taken at Armagh Observatory in July 1974

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Humanity seeping through a scientific record of weather readings.

Decoded record of weather readings for 27th July 1974:
'Overcast night and morning. Overcast day, showers at 13:10, 13:50, 16:10, 18:50, 19:40. (very sad day)'

It was the day the Director of Armagh Observatory, Dr Eric Lindsay, passed away from a heart attack.

Weather readings have been taken at Armagh Observatory since 1794. Most of them are accessible (along with their scans) at https://weather.armagh.space/

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Letter from the vicarage at Embleton in Northumberland, 1875

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“There is a scheme which may some day come to pass for supplying all this district with good & plentiful water, which would be an immense advantage. It seems that in a dry summer all the wells almost have got dried up and one is left without water, which is not cheerful.” 25 April 1875 from the letters of Louise Creighton to her mother (Institute of Historical Research library, collection of edited primary sources)

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DLL/5/14, Senate House Library Archives, University of London

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This album of seaweeds is part of the archive of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence (1837-1914), held at Senate House Library. It contains seventy-one named examples of seaweeds pasted into its pages. A note on the inside cover states that it was 'Presented by Mrs Gray (wife of Dr JE Gray) of the Brit[ish] Mus[eum]'. Maria Emma Gray was a British conchologist and algologist, who mounted and arranged most of the Cuming collection of shells in the British Museum.
Link to archives catalogue entry: https://archives.libraries.london.ac.uk/Details/archive/110002383

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Image credit: Cumbria Archive Centre, Kendal

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The images are from a nature diary by Winifred Tomlinson made in 1909. Winifred was a pupil at the Kendal Stramongate/Friends School, which was the Quaker school, and the diary is in the school collection under reference WDS 26/1/26.

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe, Spain - Grabado del famoso cerdo erudito de Londres

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe, Spain - Grabado del famoso cerdo erudito de Londres

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Finding aid here

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A blog post exploring presence of lions in the rare books and manuscripts of Lincoln Cathedral Library, spotlighting early modern and nineteenth century works of natural history.

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The Lions of Lincoln Cathedral Library – Grains of Knowledge

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Welcome to a visual feast of the king of the beasts, as seen in manuscripts and printed books of Lincoln Cathedral Library. Some of the images are realistic and some less so but still evidence of our long term fascination with the magnificent animal found at the top of the food chain.

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The Lions of Lincoln Cathedral Library

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe - Switzerland

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe - Switzerland

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From the Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv, “I bei passatempi”, the Good Pastime

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe - Luxembourg

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe - Luxembourg

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Photographies that were taken between 1950 and 1970 in Luxembourg by the “Service Gouvernemental d’Expansion Economique et Touristique”. The collection contains numerous photos related to the subject Nature and Environment, art, etc – the impressive full lot is available here: http://www.archivesportaleurope.net/ead-display/-/ead/pl/aicode/LU-ANLUX/type/fa/id/ICO-3-1

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe - Greece

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe - Greece

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The medical codex of herbs from the Historical Archives Yiannis Vlachogiannis, Catalogue B of Manuscripts/Medical, file number 3

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe - France

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe - France

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From the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle,

« Figures / pour l'Histoire naturelle des / Fraisiers / dessinés par l'auteur à Versailles / de [1768 à 1775] »

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe - Greece

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe - Greece

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From the Venetian Administration (Ενετική Διοίκηση), Corfu Archives

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DLL/3/15, Senate House Library Archives, University of London

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This album titled ‘British Seaweeds’ is part of the archive of Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence (1837-1914), held at Senate House Library. It contains forty-eight named examples of seaweeds pasted into its pages. A note on the inside cover states that it is a 'Collection of Seaweeds sold in aid of the Fund for the repair of Rock Church £1.1.0'. Like the second seaweed album in the collection (DLL/5/14) is may have been compiled by Maria Emma Gray, British conchologist and algologist.
Link to archives catalogue entry: https://archives.libraries.london.ac.uk/Details/archive/110002382

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Engraving from De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentarius. [The Effects of Artificial Electricity on Muscular Motion] by Luigi Galvani first edition 1791.

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Letter from Joan & James Hawson from Argyll, on their view of the Bovedy meteorite fireball

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'19th July 1969
[address redacted]
ARGYLL

Dear Sir,

"IRISH METEORITE"
In reply to Patrick Moore's request on T.V. We was the meteorite from the above address on Apr 25th at 9:30pm. We had an excellent view of it as it appeared to pass over Arran travelling in the direction of Gigha where it disappeared behind clouds. The angle from Spion Kop was approximately 20º-25º. It appeared to be the size of a large aircraft, bottle-shaped, a glowing orange column with "fireworks" coming from the rear (neck of "bottle"). We enclose map with Spion Kop marked & a dotted line marking course taken by meteorite from our angle.

Yours truly,
Joan & James Hawson
(Mr & Mrs J. Hawson)'

The fireball was seen throughout the British Isles. Sir Patrick Moore, at that point already presenting Sky at Night, was the former Director of Armagh Planetarium, and thus had an additional interest in the matter of an 'Irish meteorite'.

From Armagh Observatory & Planetarium collection: ARM BVD 1.21

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Links to some blog posts featuring museum collections - I hope that some of you will enjoy reading them:

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Links to some blog posts featuring museum collections - I hope that some of you will enjoy reading them:

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Two wonderful museums – and mention of another: http://www.rwotton.blogspot.com/2015/07/two-wonderful-museums-and-mention-of.html
Brilliant illustrations of organisms: http://www.rwotton.blogspot.com/2015/01/brilliant-illustrations-of-organisms.html A moving discovery at the
Royal Albert Memorial Museum: http://www.rwotton.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-moving-discovery-in-royal-albert.html
Stunning biological illustrations: the connection between Gosse, Haddon and the Horniman Museum: https://rwotton.blogspot.com/2017/04/stunning-biological-illustrations.html
A mystery at the Horniman Museum: https://rwotton.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-mystery-at-horniman-museum.html Wonderful first-hand observations of shore life: https://rwotton.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-mystery-at-horniman-museum.html
The awesome cyanotypes of Anna Atkins: https://rwotton.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-awesome-cyanotypes-of-anna-atkins.html
An artist who loved virgin nature: https://rwotton.blogspot.com/2017/01/an-artist-who-loved-virgin-nature.html
The zoology of Bruegel’s The Fall of the Rebel Angels: https://rwotton.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-zoology-of-bruegels-fall-of-rebel.html
How a great auk “flew” from Durham to Glasgow: https://rwotton.blogspot.com/2020/03/how-great-auk-flew-from-durham-to.html

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Here's a personal nature memory I shared on Twitter recently - my first ever sighting of an otter in the wild! I often share #NatureMemories on social media, and like how it's become a kind of online archive of my experiences.

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Letter from Marie-Isabelle, age 7, on her observations of the Bovedy meteorite fireball

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'I saw a bit of fire ball going past my window'

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'I saw a bit of fire ball going past my window'

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'Dear Dr. Lindsay,

Last night about 9:25 pm I saw a bit of fire ball going past my window. I thought I was a shooting-star. Daddy saw it too he thought it went out before it landed.
Daddy said it came from south-west and it frightened my cat.
There was a noise after like thunder faraway.

Age 7 years old,
From Marie-Isabelle Marshall'

Reports of the fireball of 25th April 1969 came from across Northern Ireland (like the one here) as well as Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and even south of England. This is from one of the younger correspondents - Dr Eric Lindsay was the Director of Armagh Observatory at the time.

From Armagh Observatory & Planetarium collection: ARM BVD 1.2

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Watching the Moray Firth dolphins at Chanonry Point on the Black Isle is utterly awe inspiring. They were only a few metres from the beach.

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A ferocious watervole! VCH Leicestershire (1907)

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A ferocious watervole! VCH Leicestershire (1907)

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Early Victoria County History volumes (mostly published before 1914) each contain a 'Natural History' section, with sub-sections on Geology, Palaeontology, Botany and Zoology (organised in separate chapters for different classes of animals, from ‘Marine’, where appropriate, to Insects, Birds and Mammals). These early Natural Histories are a treasure trove of #NatureMemories. Zoology meets social history, folklore, and personal experience. So many wonderful moments and stories!

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe - Croatia

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe - Croatia

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Plitvice lakes were declared a national park in 1949 and are the oldest Croatian national park. They cover 296,8 square kilometers. The Plitvice Lakes area became part of the UNESCO World Heritage List at 1979. Sixteen lakes are connected by cascades that create many waterfalls. Black, White, Matica and Korana River with Plitvice creek provide all the water in the park. Legend says that Barbara Celjska, in Croatia known as the Black queen, created Plitvice in 15th century but according to science lakes are 12 to 15000 years old and they are still changing. And the reason why they are changing lies in tufa. Tufa are calcium carbonate formations that are deposited in the form of small crystals at the bottom of the lake, on lake plants and lake barriers, and their growth enables lake changes. But this is not the only fascinating thing about this national park. Flora is extremely well preserved so there are eleven forest communities in Plitvice, fir-beech virgin forest and over 60 species of orchids. One can meet brown bear, wolf, otter and freshwater fishes and crabs. The locals live in the area of the national park and enjoy its amazing nature and landscape.

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Seaweed from Walney Island, Cumbria 1929

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In 1929 Kathleen Bell of Grange-over-Sands wrote a dissertation called 'The Sea Shore - A Study of the Shore of Walney Island between High and Low Tide marks', now deposited at Barrow Archive Centre. Her dissertation contains pages of beautifully pressed seaweed. Here are just a few examples.

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Colour illustration of insects from the Appedix to 'Narrative of a second voyage in search of a north-west passage and of a residence in the arctic regions during the years 1829 - 1833' by Sir John…

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Pen and ink illustration of an electric fish by Michael Faraday. Taken from 'The Philosophical Miscellany: being a collection of Notices, Occurances, Events &c .' 1809-1810.

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe, Spain - Dibujo de un bisonte

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Nature in Archives Portal Europe, Spain - Dibujo de un bisonte

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Finding aid here