Angela Marmont Centre for UK Nature

Are you fascinated by the natural history of the UK? Investigate all aspects of the natural world - from insects and plants to fossils and minerals - with the help of our staff, facilities and resources.

One of the centre's key roles is to support the individuals, schemes and societies that record, monitor and protect the UK's biodiversity.

What you can do in the centre

• get help identifying specimens you've found with the centre's Identification and Advisory Service
• make use of our visitor space which includes microscopes and photo-stacking equipment for photographing specimens
• access our UK biodiversity reference collections of specimens and the London Natural History Society's library
• if you're a member of a natural history organisation, you can book our workshop space and meeting rooms
  

If you wish to use the facilities or reference collections, or post specimens to us, please contact us first at bug@nhm.ac.uk or phone us on  +44 (0)20 7942 5045.

Identifying your natural history finds

Our Identification and Advisory Service can give advice about wildlife, fossils and other natural history specimens either by email, post, over the phone or face-to-face.

Ways to identify your specimens and sightings

1) Check our selection of ID guides and apps to see if one is relevant.

2) Email your photos and descriptions to our identification service. Please tell us as much about your specimen as possible, including a detailed description, where and when you saw it, and its approximate size. 

• For life sciences, such as bugs, bones, and plants: bug@nhm.ac.uk
• For earth sciences, such as meteorites, minerals, rocks and fossils: esid@nhm.ac.uk

3) Join the ID team's Facebook group and submit your query.

If you need to discuss the best way for us to help with your enquiry, you can also call our Identification and Advisory Service team on +44 (0)20 7942 5045.

Commercial enquiries

If your business requires advice or an identification of an object from the natural world (such as an insect, tooth, pest ID or CITES identification etc.) please contact our commercial service.

Accessing equipment and the UK biodiversity reference collections for your own study

You can use the centre's reference collections, equipment and library resources to help with your own identifications and research. We can also provide you with access to the Museum's UK collections of plants, animals, fossils, rocks and minerals.

We have photographic and microscopic equipment that you can book if you'd like to study specimens in more detail. Artists are one group of frequent visitors to the centre as they can book a series of visits to help them make detailed artworks.

If you have specific research needs then please email us.

Other ways we can help you develop your interests and skills

Along with coordinating the Museum's citizen science activities, staff at the centre conduct research and develop resources to help individuals and societies organise their own projects.

Our staff provide training in identification and wildlife recording skills. We also liaise with taxonomic experts to compile checklists of plant and animal species' names for the UK species inventory.