Cumberland House Natural History Museum

13/08/2026

Behind the scenes we have been working on selecting objects for an exhibition at Portsmouth Museum & Art Gallery celebrating - one hundred years of being made a city. Today we had a natural history conservator checking, cleaning, conserving and making sure our specimens going on display are looking their best.

13/08/2026

We had quite a few moths in the moth trap on Wednesday morning. These were released after being identified. Not many insects to be seen during the bug hunts but we found ladybirds, crickets, shield bugs and a field grasshopper.

05/08/2026

Free coastal birds and marine life activities in the garden today at part of Wildlife Wednesday. Lovely to be joined by Bird Aware Solent and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust

04/08/2026

The Curator of Natural History installed elements of the exhibition‘Guermonprez’s Legacy - the Gilbert White of Bognor’ last night. Really super to see it Bognor Regis Museum - a short walk from where HLF Guermonprez lived.

The exhibition will be at Bognor Regis Museum from Tuesday 4th August to Saturday 8th August (10am till 4pm), before transferring to Gilbert White's House in Selborne (Hampshire).

30/06/2026

Our beehive has been populated with honey bees. Beekeepers from Portsmouth Beekeepers came into the museum this morning to get the hive up and running. Thank you beekeepers

20/06/2026

We are at the Armed Forces day with a Portsmouth City Council Countryside Office at Southsea Common today. Come and visit our stand

01/06/2026

From time to time throughout the day Glasswing butterflies fly in large numbers around the butterfly house. They are ‘lekking’ a dance to attract females.

27/05/2026

Richard, one of our Natural History Collections Volunteers has written this super blog about the moth collection that he has been working on.

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23/05/2026

Some lovely bees created by visitors to day- we were focussing on bees having 4 wings

23/05/2026

Meet the beekeepers and learn about pollinators. Bee related activities and making seed bombs. Today 23 May until 3pm