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Some pictures from Friday’s Late Night Stitch Up. Thank you to everyone who came!

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Booth museum Brighton. #reference #tattooreference #taxidermy #boothmuseum #boothmuseumbrighton #brighton #naturalhistory #edwardbooth #wildlife #owl #bat #frogskeleton #hawk #deathheadmoth #ramskull #skull #humanskull #monkeyskeleton #eagle

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Marine discovery day at the Booth! Half term fun at the Booth museum, come along and chat to staff, and get up close and personal with things from the collection!

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Bird of the Month

October: Kingfisher

Alcedines

There are over ninety species of kingfisher, with many living in forests and savannahs, far from water & fish. In Europe the Common kingfisher is the most widespread, with two others appearing in Eastern Europe.

The majority of species are found in the islands between South-East Asia and Australia. They vary greatly in size, from the 47cm Kookaburra (of which there are two on display within the museum) to the African Dwarf Kingfisher at only 10cm.

From Booth’s catalogue:

‘There is, unfortunately, a certain class of prowling gunners who never can resist a shot at this beautiful an harmless little bird; beautiful it certainly is, though its beauty departs with its life, as the effigies one sees in the windows of the ordinary taxidermist are only a caricature of the living bird.

The Kingfisher is well known to anglers as a sociable companion on the banks of the streams they both love so well.

During the autumn I have, in days gone by, often noticed as many as forty or fifty of these birds fishing in the channels among the mudbanks in the Nook, at Rye, in Sussex. They used to commence working down the creeks soon after the turn of the tide, and closely following the falling water they found abundant food in the numerous shallow pools. About half-flood they used generally to make a move, flying up the creeks, and so on to the small drains that led through the marshes, and then dispersing themselves over the levels. I have occasionally observed a score of two fly past in small parties of threes and fours within a quarter of an hour while I was watching them from the shingle banks close at hand – one or two now and then steadying themselves for a moment, and then making a dash after a shrimp or small sea fish.

Fifteen years make a difference in most things; the mudbanks and creeks are certainly gone, and I expect the numerous parties of Kingfishers that frequented them remain only in the memory of those that have had the pleasure of watching them.

The last time I visited the spot, some fine specimens of Southdown mutton were grazing stolidly and complacently on the luxuriant turf that had formed where previously hundreds of acres of mudbanks were covered by every flowing tide.

I see that this habit of coming down to the salt water, and occasionally into the harbours, is common all along the south coast during autumn.

In the Broad districts in the eastern counties the are not nearly so common as might be expected.

While Snipe shooting one winter round Hickling Broad, in Norfolk, I noticed some small object splashing in the water at the side of a dyke, and on proceeding to the spot I discovered an unfortunate Kingfisher that had come to grief in a rather singular manner. The bird had evidently at some former time been struck by a shot, which had passed through the upper mandible. This wound was quite healed up, but a small piece of the horny substance of the beak had been splintered, and into the crack produced by the fracture, two or three of the fine fibres which form part of the flowers or seeds of the reed were so firmly fixed, that the bird was held fast. It must have been flying up the dyke, and, brushing too closely to the reeds that grew on the banks, been caught in the manner described.

The struggles of the captive had broken dowm the reed, which was lying flat on the water, except when lifted up by the victim in his vain attempts to escape. On being cleared from his unpleasant position he flew off, apparently none the worse for the mishap.

The specimens in the case were shot between Shoreham and Lancing, in Sussex, in January, 1871, the case itself being copied from a small sluice on the saltings in Shoreham Harbour.’

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Bird of the month

August: Pigeons

(Columbidae)

Booth cases 205 and 211

The feral pigeon is such a typical sight that many of us do not realise that there are 310 species of pigeons and doves around the world. They vary in size from the small ground doves to the much larger extinct dodo and Rodrigues solitaire. 

Their plumage can be brightly coloured and iridescent, as seen in the Nicobar pigeon. Victoria crowned pigeons have lace-like crests.

The turtle dove is the UK’s fastest declining bird due in part to hunting on migration and lack of seed and grain available during the breeding season. Booth’s description states that they are abundant in Sussex, now their population is decreasing by half every six years.

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Bird of the month

May: Swift (Apus apus) Booth case 3

The swift is not actually a member of the swallow family (the Hirundines) but a member of the Apodidae. The birds look similar due to convergent evolution, which has meant the species have evolved similar adaptations for catching insects in flight.

Their Latin name means 'without feet', as they rarely land. They feed, mate and even sleep on the wing. The swift's legs and feet are tiny and positioned very far back on the body, making them more streamlined. When they do land, usually when breeding, they have an ungainly shuffle as they move about the nest.

They return from sub-Saharan Africa in May and stay only long enough to breed, making the journey again in August.

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Bird of the month

April: Wryneck

(Jynx torquilla)  

Booth case 26

A member of the Old World woodpecker family. They have many similarities to true woodpeckers, large heads and long tongues, and zygodactyl feet, two toes pointing forwards, two backwards.

They lack the stiff tail feathers that woodpeckers use to support themselves when climbing trees. They are more likely to perch on branches than rest on the trunks of trees.

They get their English name from their defensive behaviour of twisting their necks in unlikely positions. They were associated with witchcraft and even their Latin name makes reference to putting a ‘jinx’ on someone.

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Bird of the month

February: Goldcrest

(Regulus regulus)  

Booth case 27

The Goldcrest , along with the firecrest, is our smallest bird and at only 8.5cm it is half a centimetre smaller than the wren. Aristotle describes them as ’…just a little bigger than a locust, its crest is the colour of sun shining through mist…’.

Winter is a good time of year to see this tiny bird, before it can hide behind the green leaves of spring and summer. The crest is yellow in the female and orange with yellow edging in the male.

They are often seen with long-tailed tits, moving from tree to tree as they feed on small insects. They have a plump and rounded body, which Mr Booth’s taxidermists seemed to have missed in their specimens.