Natural History Museum

What can you see

Highlights

  • Travel from the open sea through the salt marshes and beaches to the more familiar urban environments of the park. Discover what rocks lie beneath your feet with a look at local geology and find out what lurks in your garden.
  • Our Geology and Climate gallery opened in 2009 and follows the geological history of the area and looks at the issues of global warming and associated climate change.
  • Learn more about the stag beetle in a display dedicated to this fascinating insect. Find out about their lifecycle, threats to their survival and what you can do to help.
  • Lift the flaps and crawl through the tunnel in the Underground display to discover creatures who live beneath the ground. Meet Firefly our fox and feel the coarse hairs of her coat......but please be gentle!
  • Peer through the window and see how many Night Visitors you can spot.
  • Finally, check out some of Colchester's park life and a section on the wildlife of The River Colne.
     

Temporary Display (8th December - August 2013)

Objects from the Stores! We have a large selection of objects from our stores on open display in the museum while building works are carried out. Don't miss this opportunity to see specimens that we rarely have the chance to display including a magnificent Golden eagle and our wonderful collection of cased taxidermy by T.E. Gunn.

Skulls & Skeletons! Temporary Display (20th May - September 2013)

Come and see some of the skulls and skeletons from the museum stores. Learn more about how our skeletons are similar to those of other animals and see mounted skeletons of a cat, chicken, bat and more! Use the clues to identify the skulls on display, can you work out which is the otter and which is the fox?

 

 Temporary Display (8th December - August 2013)

Children

The museum is a perfect chance to give the children a quick break from shopping. It is popular with children because of its focus on animals and the local area - both the familiar and the unexpected - did you know that mammoths and hippos used to roam around the area?

Other features for children include:

  • Resource trolley - contains books, magnifying glasses, trails and more! 
  • Crawl-through badger sett
  • Interactive microscope - look at your own objects or find something interesting in the resource trolley
  • Bird cam Launched

In the summer holidays we host Go Live! week where we have live animals in the museum (a small charge applies for this event).