Tag Archives for events

Meet the Taxidermist – A New Way to Engage the Public with Taxidermy

Written by Julie Griffith, Property Experience Curator, Calke Abbey – National Trust & Sarah Burhouse, Taxidermist, Birdhouse Taxidermy.

How to challenge negative pre-conceptions of taxidermy and facilitate deeper, positive engagement with the objects – this was the challenge faced at Calke Abbey, a National Trust property in Derbyshire.

Credit – National Trust/Julie Griffith

Julie – Calke Abbey

Integral to Calke Abbey’s identity, the natural history collection demonstrates the interests and collecting of several generations of the Harpur Crewe family. Most visible is the taxidermy, present in over 10 rooms of the house and ranging from high quality finished dioramas to unfinished mounts hanging upside down in overcrowded cases. In the Saloon, large cases of birds even obscure a painting of Harpur Crewe children, demonstrating the importance placed on these objects by their historical owners.

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NatSCA Digital Digest – April 2026

Compiled by Milo Phillips, Digitisation Co-ordinator at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Welcome to the April edition of NatSCA Digital Digest.

A monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the natural history sector including jobs, exhibitions, conferences, and training opportunities. We are keen to hear from you if you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest, please drop an email to blog@natsca.org.

Sector News

NatSCA Annual Conference & AGM 2026: Registration Now OPEN!

Booking is now open for the Annual Conference & AGM of the Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA) held on Thursday 14th and Friday 15th May 2026 at The Ulster Museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This year’s theme is: Collaborating and Connecting with Natural History.

Due to limited venue capacity, the conference is limited to 120 places. Please follow this link to the conference page to find out more information: https://www.natsca.org/event/2924.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions. If you would like to become a member, which would qualify you for the conference discount or bursaries, please see our website for details.

Please note that the early bird discount ends on the 14th April so get in quick if you want to get the cheaper rate!

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NatSCA Digital Digest – March 2026

Compiled by Olivia Beavers, Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at World Museum, National Museums Liverpool.

Welcome to the March edition of NatSCA Digital Digest.

A monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the natural history sector including jobs, exhibitions, conferences, and training opportunities. We are keen to hear from you if you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest, please drop an email to blog@natsca.org.

Sector News

NatSCA Annual Conference & AGM 2026: Registration Now OPEN!

Booking is now open for the Annual Conference & AGM of the Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA) held on Thursday 14th and Friday 15th May 2026 at The Ulster Museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This year’s theme is: Collaborating and Connecting with Natural History.

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NatSCA Digital Digest – February 2026

[Editors note: apologies for the late publication of this month’s newsletter which was due to the blog editor being poorly!]

Compiled by Ellie Clark, Curator of Fossil Cnidaria at the Natural History Museum.

Welcome to the February edition of NatSCA Digital Digest.

Digital Digest is a monthly blog series featuring the latest on where to go, what to see and do in the natural history sector including jobs, exhibitions, conferences, and training opportunities. We are keen to hear from you if you have any top tips and recommendations for our next Digest, please drop an email to blog@natsca.org.

Sector News

24th Conference of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies – Abstract Submissions Open

IFORS is now accepting abstract submissions in preparation for the upcoming conference Decision Support for a Sustainable World. The conference will be held July 12th through 17th at the University of Vienna, Austria. Details on the conference and access to the submissions portal can be found on their website, along with program details and information on registration.

Abstract submissions are open now and close March 15th. Registration opens April 25th.

Fixing Our Broken Planet Community of Practice Gathering: Northern England 

Date: Tuesday 17th  March 2026 10:00 – 17:30  +  Opt-in dinner
Location: Manchester Museum

The Fixing Our Broken Planet (FOBP) Community of Practice supports museum and cultural sector practitioners to connect, share best practice, and explore how organisations can respond to the planetary emergency.

This free, in-person gathering is for CoP members across the North of England and will focus on the shared question: What are we going to do about the planetary emergency? Responding to member feedback, the event will use Open Space Technology, a hands-on, participant-led approach where attendees shape the agenda on the day, encouraging collaboration and diverse perspectives around complex challenges.

Join to exchange ideas, develop practical solutions, and gather inspiration to take back to your organisation. Lunch is provided and spaces are limited to 50, with priority given to those working, volunteering, or studying in the Northern England museums sector. For more information and to register, follow this link.

Transmitting Science: “Care and Management of Natural History Collections”.

Using a combination of lectures, discussions, demonstrations, and readings, this course will teach participants how to better care for and manage all natural history collections (including botany, geosciences, and zoology). Rather than the traditional discipline-based approach, the course teaches collections care based on collection material and preparation type – dry preparations, wet preparations, and documentation (including paper-based and electronic media).

The course will benefit individuals who already have experience in caring for natural history collections, as well as those who intend to work with natural history collections. The live sessions will combine lectures, hands-on computational exercises, and guided examples.

For more information on fees and how to register visit the course webpage: https://www.transmittingscience.com/courses/museums-and-collections/care-management-natural-history-collections/

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Liverpool, Natural History and Extinction: The Case of a Real Liver Bird

Written by John-James Wilson (Lead Curator of Zoology, World Museum), Jude Piesse (Senior Lecturer in English Literature, LJMU) & Alyssa Grossman (Senior Lecturer in Communication and Media, University of Liverpool).

The interdisciplinary public engagement project ‘ENLivEN: Empire, Nature and Liverpool: Investigating and Engaging with Natural History’, is a collaboration between University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and 14 city-wide partners. In this blog we bring together reflections from a workshop held at World Museum, Liverpool in October 2025, where we trialled approaches for the project with LJMU undergraduates. ENLivEN will develop further workshops on similarly evocative ‘catalyst’ specimens and objects held across participating institutions.

John-James Wilson (Lead Curator of Zoology, World Museum)

Spotted Green Pigeons are a species that became extinct at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

In 1793, Dr John Latham noticed two unusual taxidermized pigeons in private natural history collections in London. He described them as a new species that he called Spotted Green Pigeons. One of the specimens is now lost but the other was bought by the 13th Earl of Derby. In 1851, the 13th Earl of Derby left his specimen to the people of Liverpool in his will. Because the specimen is kept at World Museum, this specimen became known as the Liverpool Pigeon.

The Liverpool Pigeon is now the only known Spotted Green Pigeon specimen in existence. Uncertainty about the status and nearest relatives of Spotted Green Pigeons continued for over 200 years. DNA analysis in 2014 convinced scientists that Spotted Green Pigeons were a genuine, extinct species. Spotted Green Pigeons were only very distantly related to Feral Pigeons found in Liverpool and cities around the world.

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