On a recent visit to Avoncroft Museum I was delighted to find at least three items from Warwickshire (and may have missed others). This museum has historic buildings (rescured from ...
Once scarcely seen, polecats are expanding their territory back to Warwickshire according to Dr Johnny Birks, an experienced ecologist and chairman of the Mammal Society. He presented a fascinating talk ...
The Warwickshire Avon rises in Naseby (in Northamptonshire) and the old photo shows an overgrown pool of water and the side of a monument. It’s not easy to find the ...
Fossil shells known as Gryphaea are amongst the most familiar of Warwickshire fossils. They are commonly known as ‘Devils’ toenails’, due to their broadly curved shape, which looks a bit like ...
Gully pots are necessary for road drainage and flood prevention. They can, however, be death traps for amphibians. Each year large numbers of amphibians, both adults and juveniles, fall into ...
The geological collections of the Warwickshire Museum were initiated by the Warwickshire Natural History and Archaeological Society during the 19th century.
Brave entrepreneurs
Amongst the many curiosities collected back then are a small ...
Amongst the original collections of the Warwickshire Natural History and Archaeological Society, the Warwickshire Museum cares for a number of tiny ‘books’ (actually decorative pieces), carved from different varieties of ...
In the past, notably during the 19th century, the Warwickshire Museum collected specimens from exotic locations. Amongst our natural history collections we have a number of exotic butterflies, collected from tropical ...
Pebbles of many different rock types can be found in Warwickshire, and are commonly encountered in fields, gardens and parks. Flint, best known from southern and eastern England, is present ...
We would love to know what you saw and when and where you spotted it. Please send your species records to the Warwickshire Biological Records Centre with these details:
The four ...
The zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, is a small species of freshwater bivalve mollusc. Its shell has a striped pattern, hence its name. The overall shape of these attractive shells is ...
Your amphibian and reptile records are needed now more than ever as a new distribution atlas for the county is currently being prepared by the Warwickshire Amphibian & Reptile Team ...
Red Kites (Milvus milvus) are distinctive birds of prey with a large wing span of up to two metres, a forked tail, and a beautiful mixture of black, grey, reddish brown ...
We occasionally experience falls of so-called Saharan dust in Warwickshire, when precipitation is combined with wind blowing from the south. This produces ‘dirty rain’ depositing splatters of dust which are ...
A bit of history
Field names provide an unofficial record of rural history. In medieval times villages had two or three great fields with a crop-rotation system. These great fields were ...
I previously gave an introduction to field names and their history. The names of fields originated in a very practical way to identify them for illiterate farm labourers who had ...
The small Muntjac Deer is widespread in Warwickshire, living in parkland, woodland and even venturing into gardens. Male Muntjac have small unbranched antlers and long canine teeth. They can live ...
Warwickshire has one of the most varied selections of rocks in the country. It spans over 600 million years from the depths of the Precambrian period, with violent volcanic eruptions, ...
My childhood was accompanied by hedgehogs teaching me road safety and not to step out into the road but what do we know about them?
The essential facts
Hedgehogs are around 26cm ...
I was born on 12th of June 1926. I represented Warwickshire farmers in the Victory Parade at the end of the Second World War. My dad was secretary of Farm ...
To me Warwickshire has always felt like border country, the end of the southern half of Britain. This is marked by the old Roman highways of Watling Street from London ...
Curator of Natural Sciences, Jon Radley, introduces us to the county’s Jurassic past through the story of particular dinosaur, Cruxicheiros, who roamed the shallow seas of southern Warwickshire around 170 ...
The experience of being bombed in Birmingham during World War Two was something we all wanted to escape from.
Escape to Heronfield, near Knowle
Clarice & Richard Usher, my paternal grandparents, ...
I have been prompted to revisit the book ‘Exploring Shakespeare Country 100 years ago’ by Stuart Ludlum. This was published in 1985 and so I was surprised to see the ...