Conservation of Specimens

In the past 3 years we have been engaged in an intensive conservation project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the University of Reading. We have made great progress in restoring our specimens, helped enormously by undergraduate student volunteers.

Fluid-preserved collections require constant maintenance or they will rapidly deteriorate. Much of our time is therefore spent topping up fluids and re-attaching specimens. We also clean skulls and skeletons. The skull on the right was cleaned only on the right-hand side, to show the difference a good wash can make.

The second picture shows tail feathers of a Green Woodpecker Picus viridis before and after conservation work.