Garden Tour/insect study - PLT
11th March 2025Natural History Museum
Carolyn and I joined a most interesting visit to the Natural History Museum, organised by the Pan Livery group Pollinating London Together.
The visit comprised two halves: a tour around the gardens at the front/side of the museum and a lecture/investigative session in the Nature Activity Centre.
The gardens themselves are divided into two sections. One is planted with vegetation as it evolved through time (hence the dinosaur and fossils in the display) and one section is dedicated to current wildlife and plants in an urban setting. The tour was hosted by a Natural History Museum guide, who gave a very good explanation of what the exhibits were and what the museum is trying to achieve.
Ironically for a Pollinating London Together visit, flowering plants evolved very late in evolutionary terms so there are very few in the "time" section, and of course, the tour was in early March before any current era vegetation has actually sprung into life. Apart from the odd frog and toadspawn in the pond, there was very little life to see! Maybe visiting in May would be better for the next one - it would certainly be warmer!
We then retired out of the cold wind to the Nature Activity Centre to get involved in the study of insect samples, both in terms of why and how it is done. We were given the practical problem of trying to understand why a farmer's strawberry plants were not fruiting well after previous successful years, using microscopes to identify what insects had been found in the strawberry field traps. Our initial investigations and sorting of insect samples will be sent to the museum scientific departments for proper analysis and inclusion in scientific studies, but the implication was that there were not enough pollinating insects in the strawberry farm and therefore the farmer should sow plants that would encourage more of the right type of insects!
A very thought provoking and interesting session!