A few weeks ago, myself and Sarah (from Sarah Edmunds illustration) started volunteering at the Booth Museum of Natural History in Brighton to help photograph and update the collection of birds eggs. I don’t think either of us had quite realised the enormity of the task until we started… there are SO MANY eggs in the collection, its really quite incredible. And such an amazing opportunity to get close-up to these beautiful natural objects.
I could of kept taking literally hundreds of photos, there is something so beautiful and haunting about them. Here are just a few…
The birds eggs are kept in hundreds of drawers in a whole corridor of cabinets like this:
Our main tasks were to measure the length and width of the eggs using really precise callipers, and enter the information onto the giant museum database. We also checked all the information on there was correct for each egg. Then we photographed each egg on its own and as a clutch if it was part of one, which will later be added to the database too.
(Please note egg collecting is illegal in the UK – the eggs in the collection are all from a long time ago when collecting was quite common. The eggs are now used for research and education).
