Natural History Museum - Wollaton Hall How we use cookies We use cookies to offer you a better experience and understand how our website is being used. Read our for more information. Community Events throughout the Spring / Summer are available e.g. Vaisakhi in the Park – Buy Tickets for this here: www.wollatonhall.org.uk/vaisakhi and see our full list of Community Events: www.wollatonhall.org.uk/category/community-activities A world of wonder Natural History Museum Where history lives Since opening in 1926, Wollaton Hall has been home to Nottingham’s Natural History Museum. With a collection of 750,000 objects across the Museums service, ranging from fossils, minerals, plants and eggs to invertebrates, vertebrates, shells (molluscs) and taxidermy, as well as preserved ‘spirit’ animals and rare specimens from across the globe, Wollaton is the largest dedicated Natural History museum in the county, showcasing some of these objects. For all things Natural History, follow George the Gorilla on Twitter @george_gorilla Birds Recreated in the style of a 1930s museum, the gallery contains birds and game heads, alongside contemporary specimens. Many collected in Ethiopia and Sudan by nineteenth century explorer Mansfield Parkyns with two specimens of the Shoebill brought to Europe in 1850. Insects Butterflies, moths, beetles and bugs from around the world. Focusing on the biology and life cycles of insects, see a Caribbean ‘cloud forest’ diorama with the birds and mammals dependent on termite colonies for food and nest sites. Herbarium A collection of preserved plants is a ‘herbarium’. Nottingham’s Natural History Museum contains 100,000 pressed plants and flowers from across the globe, as well as seeds and other botanical samples, many of which are on display at Wollaton Hall. Spirit Organisms preserved in jars of fluid or ‘spirit’ for soft-bodied animals that cannot be dried or undergo taxidermy. The spirit jars in the Nottingham Natural History collection contain 1,000 glass jars of preserved organisms from around Europe. These items form part of the Museums collection rather than being displayed onsite at Wollaton Hall. Geological The geological collection of the Nottingham Natural History Museum contains 47,000 rocks, minerals and fossils. The fossils originate predominantly from Britain, while the rocks and minerals from across the world. Keep in touch Sign up to our newsletter Get the latest from Wollaton Hall & Deer Park straight to your inbox.