Short videos of some of the conservation projects we have recently undertaken

Below is a fun time lapse video of the installation of 'Titus' the 12m long, 3.5m high Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton that Nigel Larkin conserved and mounted from scratch. Excavated in 2018, this skelton was 20 percent complete and was augmented with replica bones of 'Stan', a famous T rex skeleton of the same size. Nigel Installed the skeleton at Wollaton Hall (Nottingham's natural history museum) in the summer of 2021. This is the first time a real T rex has been put on display in England for at least 100 years. You can read more about this project here: https://www.natural-history-conservation.com/TyrannosaurusRex.htm
The installation was filmed, edited and produced by the talented Dominic Day:

Below: Video (including some time lapse footage and interviews) of Nigel Larkin de-installing the whale skeletons on display at Hull's Martime Museum in October 2020.

Below: Time lapse video of Nigel Larkin installing the skeleton of the famous 18th century racehorse Eclipse at Milton Keynes Galleryary in September 2019. This was for the exhibition 'George Stubbs: all done from Nature', the first significant overview of Stubbs’s work in Britain for more than 30 years which brought together 80 paintings, drawings and publications from the National Gallery’s Whistlejacket to pieces never previously seen in public.
Filmed & edited by MKGallery, and copyrigth MKGallery.

Below: Time lapse video of Nigel Larkin installing the fin whale skeleton (known as Driggsby) at the Tullie House Museum, Carlisle in January 2018. Filmed and edited by Mulholland Media.


For more information about this project, see this page: http://www.natural-history-conservation.com/CarlisleFinWhaleSkeleton.htm.

Below: Time lapse video of Nigel Larkin dismantling and cleaning the large fin whale skeleton at Cambridge University Museum of Zoology.


For more information about this project, see this page: http://www.natural-history-conservation.com/finbackblog.htm.

Below: Repairing a nautilus shell. 'Jeff D' found our website useful as there was very little information available on the internet on how to repair his nautilus specimen hanging on a necklace. He saw a page on our site showing how Simon Moore had repaired a severely damaged nautilus shell for the SS Great Britain Museum in Bristol in 2010 (see: http://www.natural-history-conservation.com/nautilus.htm) and Jeff got in touch to ask for more information. Simon Moore sent him a copy of the conservation report and answered his questions. The video below shows Jeff subsequently undertaking the repair.

The five videos below relate to work currently being undertaken as part of the restoration of the Victorian geology gallery at Biddulph Grange, a National Trust property near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England.

'Palaeontologist working in the Geology Gallery at Biddulph Grange' (6.5 miniutes long).
Filmed, edited and produced by Redhead Business Films. see: http://www.redheadbusinessfilms.com
Published on 4 Aug 2016. The ongoing restoration of the Geological Gallery at Biddulph Grange Garden is a varied project. Not only do fossils need to be conserved and the recesses in which they were formally displayed stabilised, but the Grade I listed building has also needed comprehensive restoration to stabilise it. This has included resolving major structural and damp issues as well as replacing original tiles and stonework.

'Biddulph Grange Geology Gallery Ichthyosaur Skull' (5 minutes long).
Filmed, edited and produced by Redhead Business Films. see: http://www.redheadbusinessfilms.com
Published on 4 Aug 2016. As part of the restoration of the Geological Gallery at Biddulph Grange Garden palaeontologist Nigel Larkin, of Natural History Conservation, is restoring the fossils that it originally. This juvenile Ichthyosaur is one of just nine fossils that have survived 150 years in the Gallery which originally displayed over 60 specimens. Once conservation of the fragile fossils is complete they will be replicated and the replicas installed in the Gallery.

'Biddulph Geological Gallery Background Information' (5 minutes long).
Published on 4 Aug 2016. The Geological Gallery at Biddulph Grange Garden is a unique building that displays a Victorian understanding of geology alongside the Christian story of creation. Built between 1858 and 1862 the Gallery also formed the entrance to James Bateman historic garden. The Geological Gallery is being restored by the National Trust and we are in need of your support to complete the work. To find out more and help follow this link: http://bit.ly/2aT0YwR

'Bidulph Grange Geological Gallery - 'Open Now'' (1 minute long)
Filmed, edited and produced by Redhead Business Films. see: http://www.redheadbusinessfilms.com
Published on 14 Oct 2016. Step back in time in this unique Geological Gallery at Biddulph Grange Gardens. Find out about the fascinating work of Palaeontologist Nigel Larkin. The Gallery is open now, fossils will appear April 2017.

'Palaeontologist Nigel Larkin working in the Geology Gallery at Biddulph Grange, putting replicas of fossil specimens on the wall' (3.5 miniutes long).
Filmed, edited and produced by Redhead Business Films. see: http://www.redheadbusinessfilms.com
Published in 4 April 2018.

The next five videos relate to dismantling a large ichthyosaur skull (from the Thinktank Science Museum in Birmingham) and cleaning and conserving the bones, then rebuilding the skull more accurately. This involved MicroCT scanning some bones, 'mirroring' them and 3D printing some missing elements to use in the reconstruction. Similar work was undertaken to reconstruct the rest of the skeleton. In the process, our research revealed that this is the largest known skeleton of Ichthyosaurus in the world. This conservation, research and redisplay project culminated in a permanent exhibition at the Thiktank Museum. You can read about the project here:
http://www.natural-history-conservation.com/ThinktankIchthyosaurPoster.pdf

'Thinktank Museum Ichthyosaur Skull Conservation: Part 1' (7 minutes long)
Published on 26 Feb 2015. This video follows the start of a new fossil conservation project at Birmingham Museums. It focuses on the skull of an ichthyosaur, a member of a group of marine reptiles that were contemporaries of the dinosaurs. Natural Science Curator Luanne Meehitiya meets with palaeontologists Nigel Larkin, Dr Adam Stuart Smith and Dean Lomax to discuss the skull and the next stage of the project. Dean is the presenter of the new TV series Dinosaur Britain. Ichthyosaur illustration by Adam Stuart Smith, 2004; Bait Ball artwork copyright Bob Nicholls, 2009 (paleocreations.com); Filmed by Lukas Large, HLF Skills for the Future curatorial trainee.

'Thinktank Museum Ichthyosaur Skull Conservation: Part 2 Measuring the skull' (3.5 minutes long).
Published on 17 Feb 2016. This video is one of a series charting a project to conserve and re-display a fossil icthyosaur skull at Birmingham Museums. Ichthyosaurs were a group of marine reptiles that were contemporaries of the dinosaurs. Palaeontological conservator Nigel Larkin and palaeontologist Dean Lomax examine and measure the skull before taking it apart. Dean is the presenter of the new TV series Dinosaur Britain.

'Thinktank Museum Ichthyosaur Skull Conservation: Part 3 Cleaning and taking apart the skull' (6 minutes long).
Published on 15 Jun 2015. Part 3 of a series of videos about a project to conserve and re-display a fossil icthyosaur skull at Thinktank. In this video palaeontological conservator Nigel Larkin starts cleaning the ichthyosaur skull and taking it apart so it can be re-assembled in a more accurate way. Ichthyosaurs are a group of marine reptiles that lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. This video is one of a series charting the progress of the project to conserve and re-display this skull.

'Thinktank Museum Ichthyosaur Skull Conservation: Part 4 The rest of skeleton' (4 minutes long)
Published on 15 Jun 2015. This video is one of a series charting the progress of the project to conserve and re-display the fossil skull of an ichthyosaur, a marine contemporary of the dinosaurs. In this video palaeontological conservator Nigel Larkin and palaeontologist Dean Lomax look at the picture emerging of the huge extinct animal from studying the rest of the skeleton. Dean is the presenter of the new TV series Dinosaur Britain.

'Thinktank Museum Ichthyosaur Skull Conservation: Part 5 CT Scanning' (7 minutes long)
Published on 15 Jun 2015. Ichthyosaurs lived in the sea at the same time as the dinosaurs and ours is special because it is not flattened like most but is preserved in 3D. In this video palaeontological conservator Nigel Larkin and palaeontologist Dean Lomax visit Dr Laura Porro at the Cambridge Museum of Zoology micro-CT scanning laboratory to watch bones from the ichthyosaur skull being scanned and digitally imaged for research. This video is part of a series following the ichthyosaur fossil skull project.

Thinktank Museum Ichthyosaur Skull Conservation: Part 6. Publishing the research in the Journal PeerJ: Lomax, D.R., Porro, L.B. and Larkin, N.R. 2019. Descriptive anatomy of the largest known specimen of Protoichthyosaurus prostaxalis (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria) including computed tomography and digital reconstruction of a three-dimensional skull. 1 minute long
. This video is part of a series following the ichthyosaur fossil skull project. See: https://peerj.com/articles/6112/