The Natural World

The 20th May 2026 is World Bee Day. To mark it, this post will focus on the description of the Western Honey Bee provided in Historia Insectorum, which was written in Latin. That book was published posthumously in 1710 by the Royal Society under the name of John Ray but it was based on the observations and notes of Francis Willughby. What is commonly known today as the Western Honey Bee was called the Common Honey Bee or Apis domestica seu vulgaris alvearium by Ray and Willug

The 27th April 2026 is International Crow and Raven Appreciation Day. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of the Common Raven in Ornithologia. Willughby gave its common English name as the Raven and also knew it as Corvus. In 1758, Carl Linnaeus gave it the taxonomical binominal name of Corvus corax, by which name it is still known today. The Raven in Francis Willughby

The 25th April 2026 is World Penguin Day. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of a description of a penguin in Ornithologia. The species in Ornithologia that actually bore the name penguin was the now extinct species known today as the Great Auk. The Great Auk is considered by many as the “original penguin”. When Western seamen visited the Southern Hemisphere and came across birds with a

The 21st April 2026 is World Curlew Day. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of the Eurasian Curlew from Ornithologia. Willughby gave the common English name of this bird as the Curlew, but noted that the males were often called the Jack Curlew. He also provided an alternative name of Numenius sive Arquata. In 1758, Carl Linnaeus gave it the taxonomical binominal name o

The 20th April 2026 is International Cuckoo Day. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of the Common Cuckoo in Ornithologia. Willughby knew this bird by the name of Cuckow or Cuculus. In 1758, Linnaeus gave it the taxonomical binominal name of Cuculus canorus, which remains its modern name. The Cuckoo in Francis Willughby's Ornithologia In Ornithologia, the Cuckoo’s leng

The 14th April 2026 is World Puffin Day. To mark this, and the 350th anniversary of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of the Atlantic Puffin from Ornithologia. In Francis Willughby’s time, the bird that is known as the Puffin today was not known as it in England. Confusingly, what was known as the Puffin in England in his time is today known as the Manx Shearwater. Ornithologia provides many British folk names

The next entry in the Middleton household accounts for Sir Henry Willoughby in 1526 was dated 4th April. It is a repeat of an entry from the previous April and was described as a reward to someone who had brought word of where red deer lay by the side of Maxstoke, Warwickshire. The amount was also 4 pence, which was the equivalent of about £7.35 today. This entry is not in the hunting season for almost all types and sex of deer. The hunting season for does (female deer) was S

The 22nd–26th March 2026 is World Osprey Week. To mark this, as well as the 350th anniversary of the year of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of the Osprey provided in Ornithologia. The Osprey is particularly problematic in Ornithologia. The size and other characteristics of the Osprey caused significant problems for Willughby, Ray and other later naturalists because it was an intermediate species that did no

The 20th March 2026 is World Sparrow Day. To mark this, as well as the 350th anniversary of the year of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of the House Sparrow provided in Ornithologia. World Sparrow Day aims to raise awareness of the declining population of the House Sparrow, which has declined by over 60% since the 1970s in the UK and has faced a similar decline worldwide in the same time period. The cause of

The 19th March 2026 is National Poultry Day. To mark this and the 350th anniversary of the year of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on the various medicinal uses for chickens that were detailed in Ornithologia. It is known that Francis Willughby and John Ray prepared medicines using the stills in the Stone Building at Middleton Hall. PLEASE NOTE: none of the medicinal uses detailed in this post are advised today. However, a few do bear

The 18th March 2026 is World Eagle Day and to mark this, as well as the 350th anniversary of the year of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on part of the description of the Golden Eagle provided in Ornithologia. Willughby wrote that the English countrymen called this bird simply the Eagle, without any epithet of distinction, as if it were the Eagle of Eagles. It came to England yearly to build its nest and breed, especially upon the hig

The 2nd February 2026 is World Ostrich Day and to mark this, as well as the 350th anniversary of the year of the publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia, this post will focus on some of the description of the ostrich provided in Ornithologia. Francis Willughby and John Ray had actually seen an ostrich. They saw it on their European Tour, on 30th April 1663, when they were in Brussels, in what is today Belgium. They wrote that between Coudenberg Palace and Bruxelles Pa

The 17th January is World Waterfowl Day, the purpose of which is to raise public awareness, knowledge and interest in various species of waterfowl such as ducks, swans and geese. Therefore, in this post, we will be raising awareness of one species of waterfowl mentioned in Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia that is known today as the Mute Swan. In Ornithologia, Willughby called the Mute Swan the Tame Swan or Cygnus mansuetus . Furthermore, in his earlier Catalogue of English Bi

The 5th January is National Bird Day! Birds are a very important historic topic at Middleton Hall and in 2026 they are especially so because it is also the 350th anniversary of the first publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia. In 1672, John Ray made a deathbed promise to Francis Willughby to finish Willughby’s work on natural history. With the publication of Ornithologia (Ornithology), which he compiled whilst still at Middleton Hall, Ray fulfilled part of his promis

29th January 2025 is the start of the new lunar year and this year is the year of the wood snake. In Chinese astrology an animal is paired with a natural element and the last time the year of the wood snake occurred was 60 years ago. In Chinese culture the snake can represent wisdom and agility and when combined with wood it can also emphasise growth and creativity. Therefore, we thought this an opportune time to talk about snakes at Middleton Hall. The Nature Trail at Middle

Recently a special two-part documentary series has been shown on Channel 5 called Ice Age: Apocalypse. One might wonder why this show might have any relevance to Middleton. Over the last few years, we have been researching the much wider history of Middleton and the Ice Age has managed to make repeated and often unexpected appearances. The oldest archaeological discovery at Middleton is a Palaeolithic Acheulian ovate hand axe, which is thought to date to over 200,000 years ag

From the time of Francis Willughby FRS in the 17th century to the modern day, the study of birds has been an important activity at Middleton Hall. In 1975, 50 years ago this year, the area around Middleton Pool was registered by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) as a significant habitat for birds. This was two years after it had also been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. At the time that it was registered it was stated that, in the vicinity of Middle

Hanbury Barclay was the tenant of Middleton Hall from 1872 to 1880. During his brief tenancy he made a number of alterations to the grounds of Middleton Hall, many of which are still visible today. Unfortunately, we have no precise date for when he made these alterations and so Middleton Hall Trust has given them the rough date of about 1875. Therefore, to mark the “rough” 150th anniversary, in 2025 we are writing a series of posts to highlight his alterations. Very rarely th

In the Tamworth Herald, on 14th March 1925, it was advertised that an auction was to be held at Middleton Hall on the 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th of March 1925 at the instructions of the executors of the late Egbert de Hamel. The sale was to begin at 11am each day and it added that refreshments were provided. The auction was to include all of the household furniture and, specifically, the contents of the entrance hall, banqueting hall, dining and drawing rooms, library, billiar

There is a partial solar eclipse visible in the UK on 29th March 2025 at 10am. To mark this event, we thought we would do a post about when one of the residents of Middleton Hall studied a solar eclipse all the way back in 1666! Francis Willughby FRS, is most renowned for his interest in nature, in particular zoology, but he was also interested in astronomy. On 22nd June 1666, he officially scientifically monitored and recorded a solar eclipse for the Royal Society. The Royal