I thought I’d tell you about some good news nature stories I’ve spotted over the last few days:
‘Lost frogs’ found after decades
This is the amazing story of the rediscovery of frogs which were previously thought to have been extinct.
Pressed plant collections ‘hold climate clues’
This is a fantastic story about the usefulness of Herbarium collections in the climate change story. Lindsey has posted an image of one of our Spider orchids on the Herbology blog.
Mapping the flight of the Bumblebee
This is a great research project looking at the behavior of these amazing insects.
And finally… here’s the latest on the Living Planet Gallery
Conservation and Curatorial staff have been working really hard to take down the old Mammals gallery displays and conserve the amazing specimens ready for the new Living Planet Gallery.
Very exciting!
Nature Manchester 
I popped into the museum on Sunday and very dismayed to see it closed for “REFURBISHMENT”. After seeing the awful temporary display at the side was very worried you were going to “fun-ify” it. I’ve seen this happen at Sheffield Museum and its absolutely terrible. The wonderful architecture of the old building was completely ripped out and the soul of the place was lost. Original dark wooden and glass cases are timeless and I hope none of this will be lost in an attempt to make it “fun”.
Hello Andy,
Thanks for your comments. Let me reassure you that the best bits of the current gallery will remain and be interpreted in new and hopefully inspiring ways. We are working hard on a range of themes from celebrating how amazing nature is to climate change.
The original architecture will be better revealed to capture the spirit of the original building. The gallery will open in Spring next year.