Thank you to everyone who joined us for Zoology Live! last week. Your questions for our experts were wonderful, and we all really enjoyed sharing our love of wildlife with you. We would love to know what you thought of the event. Please do complete our online survey: Please note that the survey prize draw for a Wildlife Explorer Kit has already taken place. The … Continue reading Zoology Live! A Wonderful Week of Wildlife
Welcome back for day 5 of our online Zoology Live festival. So far we have been exploring the wildlife you might see around you during the day, but today it is the turn of noctural wildlife. We were live on YouTube at 4pm on Friday 26 June, where we delved into the world of moths and bats, with LIVE interview with moth expert Annette Shelford. … Continue reading Zoology Live Day 5: Nighttime Wildlife
Welcome back to our online Zoology Live festival. Today we will be exploring the wildlife living in ponds. Join us TODAY at 4pm for pond-dipping advice and tips of filming wildlife on a budget, and LIVE interviews with your chance to ask Dr Frances Dipper your questions about aqautic wildlife, and quiz Ellie Bladon on wildlife filmaking. Find Out More About Pondlife The Museum team … Continue reading Zoology Live Day 3: Pondlife and Wildlife Films
Welcome back to our online Zoology Live festival. Continuing our celebration of all things insects and invertebrate, today we will be exploring insects on the wing. Join us TODAY at 4pm when we will have new films and LIVE interviews with Museum Research Assistant Matthew Hayes, who will he sharing butterfly-spotting tips with us, and dragonfly expert Duncan Mackay, here to answer you questions about … Continue reading Zoology Live Day 2: Minibeasts part 2
Welcome to our online Zoology Live festival. To celebrate National Insect Week, we are starting our Zoology Live online festival with a two-day celebration of minibeasts. Joins us at TODAY at 4pm for tips on finding minibeasts on the ground and in the trees, and LIVE interviews with Dr Ed Turner, Dr Richard Preece and Kate Howlett from the Museum. Zoology Live Wildlife Challenge! Take … Continue reading Zoology Live Day 1: Minibeasts part 1
Matt Hayes, research assistant, takes us through how to record the wildlife we see using iRecord: What is iRecord?iRecord is a website for sharing wildlife observations. What does iRecord do?Its goal is to make it easier for wildlife sightings to be collected, checked by experts and made available to support research and decision-making. How do I add my wildlife sightings?You can register for free and … Continue reading How to observe wildlife: iRecord
Join our Curator of Insects, Dr Ed Turner, as he searches for snails in the rain, and find out about some of the fascinating biology of banded snails: Join us on YouTube Live on Monday 22 June as we talk to Ed about all things minibeastsas part of our Zoology Live Online Festival. Got any questions you would like to ask our curator? Send them … Continue reading Banded Snails
Matt Hayes, research assistant writes: There are many ways to look for minibeasts that live around you and one easy method is to use a beat net. You don’t need any fancy equipment; a white sheet or tray will work just as well as a store-bought net. An upside-down pale umbrella also makes the perfect substitute. A pale white colour works best as it helps … Continue reading How to observe wildlife: beat-netting
Roz Wade, Learning Officer at the Museum, writes: We have some amazing finches from around the world in the Museum – including, of course, the famous Galapagos finches collected on the Voyage of the Beagle. But you don’t have to go far to see some treasure-like finches – there are some beauties that visit gardens in the UK. A highlight for me over the past … Continue reading Birds: Finches
The Museum may be closed, but there is amazing wildlife on your doorstep waiting to be explored. As we can’t celebrate our annual Zoology Live festival at the Museum this year, we are bringing it to you online instead with a week of films, interviews and activities. Every day at 4pm, join us on YouTube Live for wildlife films and live interviews with experts, and … Continue reading Zoology Live! 22-27 June
Bumblebees are among the best pollinators of any flower-visiting insects. This is for several reasons. Firstly, they are quite large and can fly long distances between flowers, transporting pollen. Secondly, they are covered with long hairs that help the bee to gather pollen but also transfer it from flower to flower. The third reason is because of a special buzzing technique the bees have (sometimes … Continue reading Early morning bumblebees
Academic in the Department of Zoology, and one of our visitor engagement volunteers in the Museum, Dr Tony Fulford writes: Pirates, pirates! Other garden birds take refuge when a gang of starlings descends. Gangling, long-legged, short-tailed and sharp-billed they strut about at twice the speed of other birds, dominating the bird feeders and forever squabbling. There has to be more to such a gregarious, lively, … Continue reading Birds: Starlings
Scroll down for the latest images from the insect photo diary of Prof Bill Amos of the Department of Zoology. There are some beautiful metallic beetles this week – it just goes to show that there is beauty in the little things in life, so take a closer look next time you see a small insect on a plant. You can see more of Bill’s … Continue reading An Insect A Day part 4
Kate Howlett, NERC-funded PhD student says: Have the lockdown restrictions been changing the way we interact with and value nature? It certainly feels that way at the moment: social media is filled with photos people have snapped on their daily walk, along with captions expressing gratitude for their local green patch; a new-found joy in bird watching or a rekindled appreciation for the beauty of … Continue reading Why I’ll be taking part in the Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Days Wild this June
The Museum is currently closed, but the Museum team has been beavering away preparing something special: our annual Zoology Live festival has moved online. We will be having live online activities from Monday 22 June – Saturday 27 June, with opportunities for you to chat to our experts and find out about the wildlife on your doorstep. Keep an eye on the blog and our … Continue reading Coming Soon: Zoology Live!
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