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Reposted by Will Beharrell

The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 11d

“It tires me a great deal to sit to anyone, but I should be the most ungrateful and ungracious dog not to agree”

September's Treasure of the Month is our most famous portrait of Charles Darwin, which is now part of UNESCO's Memory of the World.
buff.ly/hQkkwPX

Collier's 1881 portrait of Charles Darwin, who stands in a large brown overcoat against a brown background. He is holding a hat and has a white beard and downcast expression.

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SHNH @sochistnathist.bsky.social · Aug 25

As summer comes to a close, we're looking back over a wonderfully successful season!

In June, we welcomed folk to Glasgow to celebrate The Sense of Nature. It was a fantastic meeting filled with amazing people 🥰

You can read a report on it by Josephine Koopman here 👇🏻
shnh.org.uk/the-sense-of...

The Sense of Nature: SHNH Summer Meeting, June 2025 by Josephine Koopman - Society for the History of Natural History

SHNH Summer Meeting by Josephine Koopman, Researcher (Department of History, European University Institute) “The senses,” Michel de Montaigne wrote in 1588, “are the beginning and the end of human kno...

shnh.org.uk

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Newbury Pride @newburypride.bsky.social · Sep 9

🌈 Call for Voices 🏳‍⚧

We’re creating a film for Trans Day of Remembrance and want to hear your stories 💬

🎥 We will be filming locally over three days this month.

👤 If you would prefer, your contribution can be anonymous.

✉️ Timings vary, so please email [email protected] for details ❤

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Newbury Pride @newburypride.bsky.social · Aug 31

We had a BALL celebrating with our friends at @readingprideuk.bsky.social yesterday! The Reading team did an incredible job, and we had an amazing time! Thanks to everyone who came by to say hello ❤️

A group of five smiling people outside Reading Train Station.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · Aug 29

Look at this beauty, freshly returned from conservation! “Fleurs, fruits et feuillages choisis de la flore et de la pomone de l'Ile de Java” (1863) by Berthe van Nooten is one of my favourite items in the @linneansociety.bsky.social library, with firework fruits and flowers on every page.

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Newbury Pride @newburypride.bsky.social · Aug 24

New month, new venue! 🎉

Join us on 5 September, from 7pm, for our monthly Social!

⏰ 5 September, 7pm - late!
📍 The High Horse (formerly the Cross Keys), 8 London Road, Newbury RG14 1JX

See you there! 😀

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · Aug 21

What if they’re the same people…

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SHNH @sochistnathist.bsky.social · Jul 24

🚨Call for entries!🚨

We're looking for the best original, unpublished essay in the history of natural history from undergraduate & postgraduate students worldwide.

🥇£300, publication in Archives of Natural History
📅Friday 15 August

Find out eligibility & how to apply 👇🏻
shnh.org.uk/awards-honou...

A deep green background with white lettering that reads "WT Stearn Essay Prize" surrounded by a old natural history illustration of a ring-tailed lemur and a yellow bird.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · Jul 14

Natural history friends! Join SHNH (@sochistnathist.bsky.social) for our annual prize-giving this Wednesday. We’ll zip through the AGM business in the first half, and then have brief talks from our medalists in the second. We would love for you to join us 😊

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shnh-annua...

SHNH Annual General Meeting and Prizegiving 2025

Please join us for the Society for the History of Natural History's AGM, followed by a presentation of the Society's awards and prizes.

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Matthew Hodson @matthewhodson.bsky.social · Jun 15

In 1986 my father found out I was gay when he discovered me in bed with my boyfriend.
I was 19, still two years shy of the age of consent for gay men in the UK at the time.
He told me he loved me but just felt sad.
All he knew of gay men then told him that we led short, unhappy lives.
#FathersDay

Me with my father, smiling
in Brighton in 1992. It’s a sunny day. I’m wearing a Wilde tshirt. My hair is sun-kissed and awesome. My father is wearing a hat.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · May 21

And not really pronounce it like either.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · May 19

Cancelled.

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · May 3

These subtle drawings of koalas are by John William Lewin (1770 – 1819). #wildkoaladay

The pencil drawings are part of a folder in our archives (MS-630), containing a selection of Lewin's sketches and watercolours of Australian wildlife and thought to have been drawn between 1800-1817.

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · May 1

🌿 It’s Lily of the Valley Day: a French tradition where the flower is given on 1 May for luck.

We’re marking it with Gilbert White’s May diary entry noting his first sighting 🌸 and a delicate botanical watercolour from our Naturalists’ Notebooks exhibition.

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · Apr 23

Join us online on Tues 6 May, 2pm to 3pm as Professor Staffan Müller-Wille explores his legendary Lapland journey - the expedition that shaped modern botany and ethnography. Staffan will reveal how Linnaeus documented landscapes, people, and plants in this pivotal diary.

Book here: bit.ly/4lINi6X

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · Apr 22

Charles Darwin's archive has been recognised on the UNESCO International Memory of the World Register, which protects invaluable records that tell the story of human civilisation.

www.linnean.org/news/2025/04...

Charles Darwin's signature on the Linnean Society Roll and Charter

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · Apr 20

This is Andrea at the #DefendTransRights protest in Reading yesterday. She’s Newbury Pride’s Vice-Chair and my friend ❤️

I couldn’t have been prouder.

#TransRightsAreHumanRights
🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

@readingprideuk.bsky.social
@newburypride.bsky.social

A woman with long blonde hair wearing a denim jacket and a t-shirt with pro-trans rights slogans on it. She is standing in front of a public protest, defiantly holding up a microphone.

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · Apr 20

Birch twigs adorned with colourful feathers are a traditional Swedish Easter decoration, brightening up the dinner table.

Illustration by J. Terrier from 'Faune de la Senegambie' by Alphonse Trémeau de Rochebrune, 1883-1884.

www.magnoliabox.com/...

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SHNH @sochistnathist.bsky.social · Apr 3

In 1694 #OTD the naturalist George Ewards was born.

Known by some as the father of British ornithology, Edwards travelled through Europe producing colourful drawings of birds as he went.

He finally published A Natural History of Uncommon Birds, which was subsequently referenced by Linnaeus. (📸BHL)

A beautiful historic illustration of a wood duck.

A colourful illustration of a blue-and-yellow macaw.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · Apr 1

de même

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SHNH @sochistnathist.bsky.social · Mar 28

Frederik Ruysch was born #OTD in 1638.

Ruysch was primarily an anatomist, experimenting with and testing new ways to preserve and embalm specimens which could then be further used for study and teaching.

But he also studied animals and was the first to describe the vomeronasal organ in snakes.

A page of a book showing the heads and skull structures of lots of different types of Australian snakes.

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · Mar 28

Come and see our new FREE exhibition: Naturalist Notebooks! A close look at the nature journals of naturalists through history displayed in our historic library. Open Tuesday-Friday, 10:00-17:00.

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RaySocietyBooks @raysocietybooks.bsky.social · Mar 30

The Ray Society is now on Bluesky! Most recent publication ‘Biology, evolution and genetic review of the chemosymbiotic Bivalve Family Lucinidae’ by John Taylor and Emily Glover RRP £98 from the Ray Society and NHBS websites.

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Will Beharrell @willbeharrell.bsky.social · Mar 22

Try being short

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · Mar 4

How has the humble notebook been an essential tool for celebrated thinkers throughout history? Our upcoming free exhibition, Naturalists' Notebooks, explores how naturalists recorded our world from the 18th century to today.

Open Tuesday 11 March until Saturday 20 September 2025.

bit.ly/43kBXmC

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