Compiled by Jen Gallichan, NatSCA Blog Editor.

To celebrate all of your wonderful contributions to the blog in 2023, here is a round up of the top ten most read blogs of the year. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed an article. And what a bumper year it has been with articles covering decolonisation work, collections moves, exhibitions, workshops, collections research and management. The NatSCA blog is driven solely by your contributions and it is stands as a testament to the hard work you are all in doing despite challenging times.

I am pleased to say that the 2024 blog calendar is open for business, so drop me a line if you would like to contribute.

In descending order…

10. William Thomas March, a Jamaican Collector, Naturalist and Early Pioneer of Biological Data Recording in Jamaica. Written by Olivia Beavers, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at World Museum, National Museums Liverpool. We kick of with a great blog looking at the work Olivia Beavers has been up to in Liverpool to highlight the work of a collector whose contributions to understanding Jamaican biodiversity are not yet fully recognised.

9. People and Plants Workshop Three: Sharing Knowledge in the Amazon. Written by Fiona Roberts (Collaborative ESRC PhD student, Cardiff University & Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales) and Violet Nicholls (Assistant Curator in Herbarium, Portsmouth Museums). The People & Plants workshops were an interesting series of training events focusing on decolonising collections. This article reviews the last of these events which addressed the question of how ethnobotanical collections in museums can best be used to support Indigenous communities.

8. Flora Explorer: Opening the Cabinets at Portsmouth Museums. Written by Violet Nicholls, Assistant Curator (Herbarium), Portsmouth Museums. Who doesn’t love a nose in someone else’s collection? The NatSCA blog is a great way to showcase a wide range of natural history collections and this blog from Violet Nicholls is a great example of just that.

7. ‘Dino Takedown’ at the Natural History Museum of Denmark. Written by Bethany Palumbo, ACR, Head of Conservation Unit, The Natural History Museum of Denmark. A really interesting article showing how to showcase conservation and collection work during a large scale collection move and who doesn’t love a dinosaur story, lets be honest?!

6. Natural History Museums for a World in Harmony with Nature: Now’s the Time! Written by Henry McGhie, Curating Tomorrow. Henry McGhie has made it his mission to empower museums to better connect with key issues like the climate crisis. In this article he sets out some current opportunities for museums with natural history collections to strengthen their contributions to environmental sustainability.

5. Aliens Escape the Herbarium. Written by Annette Townsend (Interdisciplinary Natural History Artist) & Sally Whyman (Curator: Botany Curator, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales). We heralded the coming of Spring with the publication of this blog showcasing the beautiful work of Annette Townsend in creating wax flowers using the herbarium collections at Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales.

4. Deaccessioning of the Non-Manx Herbarium in the Natural History Collection, Manx Museum. Written by Laura McCoy, Curator of Natural History, Manx National Heritage. A key aim of NatSCA is the sharing of our knowledge and skills. Deaccessioning might not be the sexiest topic for a blog, but from the number of reads, it is clear that it is something we are all keen to read about and learn from.

3. Preparing Collections for a Big Move. Written by Ellie Clark (Collections Move Team Lead) and Lizzy Devenish (Collections Move Team Lead Digitisation), Natural History Museum, London. I for one was eager to read this update from the NHM team about their continued progress with their planned move of a mind boggling 38 million specimens!

2. How Do You Do Decolonial Research in Natural History Museums? Written by Jack Ashby, Assistant Director of the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. Making a start on decolonising your collection can seem daunting, where do you start? Thankfully Jack Ashby has written this really useful (and popular) blog about just this!

1. What is Taxidermy? An Intimate Relationship between Death and Maker. Written by Jazmine Miles Long, Taxidermist. And for the second year running, the fabulous Jazmine Mile-Long takes the top spot with this thoughtful piece about the art of taxidermy.

These are just ten examples of the wide range of articles we publish on the blog throughout the year. If this has given you an appetite for more, you can find all our articles on our blog pages, enjoy!

If you would like to know more about joining NatSCA and being part of our community, try visiting our webpages.