Wetland Bonanza

Sincere apologies for the long hiatus from this blog. I have a string of excuses, but really, I just couldn’t be bothered. So, sorry again.

I have recently found myself a small amount of paid employment (hooray!), and it all involves working with children in an amazing environment (hurrah!): the London Wetland Centre. I know I’ve raved about this gorgeous urban oasis in the past, but I’ve discovered more and more to love about the Centre in the last few months, so there’ll be plenty to share. I started volunteering for the education team some months ago, helping out with and leading such activities as pond dipping, story-telling, arts and crafts, and themed walks around the grounds. I’ve had close encounters with all sorts of beasts, ranging from gammarid shrimp and three-spined sticklebacks to slow worms, viviparous lizards, and water voles, not to mention the children! A few photographic highlights of my work follow:



Marsh frog
Pelophylax ridibundus (Pallas, 1771)
Ranidae; Anura; Amphibia; Chordata
Wild at London Wetland Centre
May 2011



Northern water vole
Arvicola amphibius (Linnaeus, 1758)
Cricetidae; Rodentia; Mammalia; Chordata
Wild at London Wetland Centre
June 2011



Early marsh orchids
Dactylorhiza incarnata (L.) Soo
Orchidaceae; Asparagales; Liliopsida; Angiospermae
London Wetland Centre
June 2011



Female tufted duck with ducklings
Aythya fuligula (Linnaeus, 1758)
Anatidae; Anseriformes; Aves; Chordata
Wild at London Wetland Centre
June 2011



Slow worm
Anguis fragilis Linnaeus, 1758
Anguidae; Squamata; Sauropsida; Chordata
Wild at London Wetland Centre
June 2011



Gravid female viviparous lizard
Zootoca vivipara (Von Jacquin, 1787)
Lacertidae; Squamata; Sauropsida; Chordata
Wild at London Wetland Centre
June 2011



Blue-winged goose
Cyanochen cyanopterus (Rüppell, 1845)
Anatidae; Anseriformes; Aves; Chordata
London Wetland Centre
July 2011



Female mallard (with mallard duckling and adopted tufted ducks)
Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 (tufted duck: see above)
Anatidae; Anseriformes; Aves; Chordata
Wild at London Wetland Centre
July 2011



Highland cattle with a West London backdrop
Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758
Bovidae; Cetartiodactyla; Mammalia; Chordata
London Wetland Centre
July 2011

The prominent purple flowers belong to purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria L.; Lythraceae; Myrtales; Magnoliopsida; Angiospermae.





White-faced whistling-duck ducklings
Dendrocygna viduata (Linnaeus, 1766)
Dendrocygnidae; Anseriformes; Aves; Chordata
London Wetland Centre
August 2011



Dead grass snake
Natrix natrix (Linnaeus, 1758)
Colubridae; Squamata; Sauropsida; Chordata
London Wetland Centre
August 2011

I’m currently working on preserving the specimen of this skeleton.



Chinese mitten crab
Eriocheir sinensis Milne-Edwards, 1853
Varunidae; Decapoda; Malacostraca; Arthropoda
Wild at London Wetland Centre
September 2011

This animal was found by a volunteer on the path early in the morning. It was likely caught by a heron or other bird and dropped. It was still alive, although only just, by 9 a.m., when I photographed it. Its fate was decided by the grounds team, that it should be humanely dispatched. Chinese mitten crabs are, as their name suggests, not native to the UK and are classed as an invasive species. This means that live individuals may not legally be introduced to a wild setting, and applies to other species such as grey squirrels and rose-ringed parakeets.

My current work at the Centre is mostly centred around the events planned for the upcoming autumn half-term. The Yuk! Show will run daily throughout the half term, inviting children to discover the gory and revolting side of nature. I’ve spent some of my work days doing things I’d never thought I’d do: creating and painting replica droppings and bones, and painting a giant papier-mâché owl pellet (for those who don’t know, this is the regurgitated mass of fur, feathers, and bones chucked up by birds such as owls). I have high hopes for the Yuk! Show and I hope it’s worth all the effort me and my colleagues have put into it!

For more information on upcoming events at the London Wetland Centre, please visit the website here.

New job

Some of you probably know I've started a new job. I am officially a museum support officer for Bruce Castle Museum. You are forgiven if you've never heard of it, I live less than seven miles from the place and had never visited it before this year.

Bruce Castle has existed in some form or another since the 16th Century, when it used to be known as Lordship House. Before then, there was a building on the site, probably dating back to the 11th Century, but little is known about that. King Henry VIII, the notorious misanthropic Tudor king, regularly visited the Castle. The building has been modified several times: in the 17th Century it was home to the Lord Coleraine family. It is said that the upper floors of the museum are haunted by one of the Lady Coleraines' ghosts.

During the 19th Century, Sir Rowland Hill owned the building, turning it into a boarding school for boys. It was reknowned as a progressive, very liberal, school, as Hill did not believe in corporal punishment, which was rife throughout the country at the time. This trait was apparently admired by many people; notably both Dickens and Darwin were fans of the school. Rowland Hill is most famous for inventing the postage stamp: before the Penny Black was invented, the postage system worked on a pay-upon-receipt basis, which needed reform.

Due to this link with the beginnings of the Royal Mail and the postage system in general, the Museum has a large collection of specimens relating to postal history. One of my many jobs so far has been to catalogue documents on this subject, from philately (that's stamp collecting) to the use of various forms of transport to deliver mail, to the role of the Post Office during the First World War. It's a vast departure from my usual interest in natural history, but it's not too bad; there's much to find interesting. The sheer age of the building, the age of the documents I have been working through, and sometimes just the titles of the works are enough to alleviate any looming tedium. A particularly funny one: "My experiences as a camp postman", published in The Stamp Lover in 1919. It is of course about the role of a postman in a World War I army camp.

The Museum holds not only items related to postal history, but other relics, from Roman and Saxon ruins found on site and elsewhere in the London Borough of Haringey, through to some examples of taxidermy and animal bones (I haven't seen anything apart from the stuffed polecat, rabbit and hedgehog on display... if I see more I will certainly blog about it!), into First and Second World War memorabilia. The nose and part of the body of an unexploded bomb which fell on a house in Wood Green from a German bomber is on display; thankfully it was dismantled. It amazes me, as it must do others, to see what life was like for the British public during the War, as there are exhibits on the daily allowances of food and other household items, showing quite literally just how little was allowed to make wartime rations go a long way. There is even an exhibition about Tottenham Hotspurs, the local football (soccer to you Americans!) team.

No doubt I will return with anecdotes and photos as I work my way through stacks of documents and get to see more of the Museum. Who knows, I might even meet Lady Coleraine... whilst working as a librarian at the Natural History Museum, I was nearly killed by a falling door in a dark, deserted corner of the Museum after most sensible people had gone home... it might sound absurd but I had heard that part was haunted...