: National Museum Cardiff

I’m now in the enigmatic central Amazonian city of Manaus (of World Cup fame) situated where the white waters of the Rio Solimões converge with the inky black Rio Negro to form the Amazon proper. This is my third visit as part of a project in collaboration with my colleague José Albertino Rafael at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA) and our PhD student Josenir Câmara. Our Project is describing the diversity of a particular group of flies in the Amazon using classical taxonomic approaches and relating it to Global evolutionary and biogeographic patterns using, for example, emerging molecular-genetic methodology. In order to do this we first have had to travel to remote areas of the Amazon, collecting flies to be brought back to the labs in Manaus and Cardiff - where the hard work really starts.

On previous visits we have surveyed remote areas on the Rio Negro close to Venezuela, way up the Solimões along the Colombian and Peruvian borders as well as downstream in Amapa State between the mouth of the great river and French Guiana. During this visit we intend to leave the Brazilian Amazon behind and explore fly diversity in some of the upper reaches of the Amazon Basin in Ecuador. We are all keyed up and excited by the imminent prospect of getting out into the forest again and trying to anticipate some of the discoveries we might make.

Of course, we cannot really know exactly what we are going to find but our past experiences suggest that much of what we discover will be completely new. That is one of the great delights of being an entomologist in the tropics as the diversity of insects is so vast and our knowledge so sparse that exciting discoveries are virtually inevitable. You would have to walk around the Amazon with your eyes and mind closed not to find something totally and often bewilderingly novel!  But for the time being we must contain our excitement as we spend our time sorting the field equipment we will take with us, pouring over maps and satellite imagery and speculating about finds we might make. I can’t wait for our flight to Quito!

The days before Friday 20th March, had staff in the Department of Natural Sciences watching the weather forecast with great attention.  Friday 20th March 2015 was a really special day as we had the opportunity in Cardiff, weather permitting, to see a partial eclipse of the Sun. This does not happen very often, the next one won’t be until 12th August 2026. 

On the Thursday we had a great start to the celebration by hosting an evening of talks on eclipses at the Museum. These were given by Dr Chris North, Dr Rhodri Evans, Dr Mark Hannam, astronomers and physicists from Cardiff University; and we all felt much better informed as to what we knew about the sun, why an eclipse was occurring, and what eclipses tell us about gravity. Equally important was a talk by Jenni Millard, an undergraduate student but experienced astronomer, on how to view the sun safely. Having listened intently the audience were issued with free solar eclipse viewing glasses.

Friday morning and we were in luck, a perfect sunny morning and all that worry about the weather had paid off!  By 8.00 a few people had already arrived outside the Museum, by 8.20 there were many more. At 8.22 we saw the first contact of the eclipse. For a short while the sun was almost obscured by the trees in the Gorsedd Gardens, but not for long. With colleagues from Cardiff University and the Institute of Physics we provided a range of methods to view the eclipse safely. These included a solar telescope that provided the greatest detail of the sun’s surface, pinhole viewers, ranging from boxes and tubes to simple card and paper, solar viewing boxes, colanders and eclipse glasses. Most visitors had noted the warnings about safe eye protection, only a few needed reminding that two pairs of sunglasses wouldn’t do the job!

Over the 126 minutes of the eclipse from first contact of the moon until we saw the entire sun once again, over 1000 people viewed the eclipse on the Museum steps with the viewing glasses provided. In total we estimate that over this period nearly 2000 people joined the event. At one point the queue disappeared round the corner of the Museum into Park Place almost to the University! However this was a great event with a fantastic atmosphere of participation and patient queuing.

For more astronomy linked events please see Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales What’s On pages, next one is on 18th April, and for education resources check out the Museum’s partnership Down2Earth Project web site

For more information on our Eclipse 2015 activities see our Storify Story.

Last year Staff from the Departments of Natural Sciences, and Learning, Participation and Interpretation took their I Spy…Nature themed pop-up museum out into the community. This year we have been delivering I Spy…Nature related workshops throughout March as part of the I Spy…Nature Exhibition outreach programme. Workshops at National Museum Cardiff allowed members of the public to carry out fieldwork within the museum, bringing the outside in! Visitors were able to explore the miniature world of British Slugs and Snails, go pond dipping, explore a rocky shore (utilising our brand new portable 3D Rocky shore) and go worm charming with our OPAL Community Science officer. During the middle part of March, staff ran a series of school workshops both at National Museum Cardiff and within a local primary school, where pupils could explore the seafloor, Fossils and Minerals before trying their hand at scientific illustration with a local artist.  The aim of these sessions was to inspire children to explore their natural environment and also to give them a chance to experience the work that museum scientists do. For British Science and Engineering Week, staff held an I Spy…Nature Open day in the main Hall at National Museum Cardiff, with a plethora of specimens from our collections and even a giant lobster, fly and squirrel!

 For more information on the I Spy…Nature activities see our Storify Story.

Dust, dust, dust, where ever you look! Museums are dusty places - dust is on top of shelves and underneath cupboards, it covers objects, books, specimens... Keeping our heritage in tip-top condition is a constant battle against dust.

What is dust? Dust in the atmosphere is made up of lots of tiny particles of soil, pollen, pollution, volcanic eruptions etc. Inside buildings, such as museums and your own office or home, dust is mainly bits of human (and pet) hair and skin, textile and paper fibres.

Why is dust a problem? Fresh dust, in small amounts, is not a problem other than making objects look unsightly. Over time, however, dust has a tendency to become really sticky. How often do you clean the tops of your kitchen cupboards? Only when you move houses, like most people? Then you'll know how difficult it is to remove the dust.

In addition, dust it hygroscopic - it absorbs moisture from the air. And because dust is really nutritious - just think of all those yummy skin cells - once it gets damp it is the PERFECT substrate for mould. Mould is really bad. Mould is responsible for damage to an awful lot of museum objects across the world.

Dust also attracts pest insects. They hide in dust, sometimes live of it – or the mould that grows on dust – and generally thrive in environments that are dusty, messy and neglected. There are some insects that cause a lot of damage to museum collections.

So we keep dust at bay in the museum because we want to maintain your heritage in as good a condition as possible. We are fortunate to have the support of some brilliant volunteers to help us keep the collections clean. Rachel, Vicky, Meredith and Elizabete - all students at Cardiff University's Department of Archaeology and Conservation - have just helped us clean one of the Library stores and one of the Art stores. Thank you to the volunteers for their help keeping dust, mould and insects under control in the museum.

Mae dros fis wedi mynd heibio ers i @DyddiadurKate bostio cofnod cyntaf dyddiadur Kate Rowlands. Mi fyddwch chi wedi dysgu rhagor amdani, erbyn hyn, trwy flogiau a chyfweliadau, a thrydar yn ôl ac ymlaen ar gyfrifon fel @StFagansTextile, @archifSFarchive, @RhB1Addysg ac @sf_ystafelloedd.

Rydym ni wedi cael gor-olwg frithliw a diddorol o bob math o agweddau o hanes cyfnod y dyddiadur, sef 1915. Mae cofnodion cryno y dyddiadur wedi bod yn symbyliad i staff i archwilio eu cyd-destun, a rhannu rhagor o gasgliadau a ffynonellau, o Amgueddfa Cymru a thu hwnt. Mae ein cronfa ddata Casgliadau'r Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf yn llawn pob math o wrthrychau sy'n rhoi cip ar stori fwy personol, sy'n mynd â ni i fyd y pethau bychain, fel y gall Dyddiadur Kate.

Un peth sydd wedi dod yn amlwg o gychwyn cynta'r prosiect yw pa mor werthfawr yw casgliad Papurau Newydd Cymru y Llyfrgell Genedlaethol wrth i ni geisio darganfod mwy am gofnodion cryno'r dyddiadur - yn enwedig wrth i Kate sôn am ddigwyddiadau cymdeithasol neu bynciau llosg y cyfnod, fel ei chofnod am yr 'influenza' dros y penwythnos:

Hysbyseb difyr o ran argaeledd orennau #RhB1 @DyddiadurKate Cambrian Daily Leader http://t.co/EQWagw0duL

— Mared Wyn McAleavey (@SF_Ystafelloedd) February 8, 2015

Mae cronfa'r papurau newydd yn eisampl wych o sut i gyflwyno dogfennau mawrion, manwl - mae'r chwiliad yn hawdd iawn i'w lywio, sy'n golygu ei bod hi'n hawdd iawn dod o hyd i erthygl benodol, neu i ddilyn dy drwyn gan ddarllen am dy hoff bynciau (fues i'n darllen lot am gystadleuthau gweu dros y penwythnos, mwy cyffrous yn amlwg na phencampwriaeth y chwe gwlad).

Y tu cefn i'r hanes cymdeithasol a'r trafod a'r rhannu, erbyn hyn, 'mae'r dechnoleg sy'n ei gyflwyno. O safbwynt digidol, mae DyddiadurKate wedi bod yn ffordd wych imi weithio gyda thîm i roi tro ar dargedu cynnwys uniaith-gymraeg ar gyfryngau cymdeithasol. Mae hefyd wedi rhoi cyfle imi arbrofi a gwerthuso rhag-bostio (yn defnyddio tweetdeck), a phlatfform analytics mewnol twitter. Dwi'n gobeithio y bydd y teclynnau hyn yn dod yn ran o waith mwy o'n trydarwyr, fesul tipyn - ac felly o ran 'pethau bychain' fy mywyd bob dydd innau, gan mlynedd yn ddiweddarach, cofnodi data fydda i, tra'n gwylio dyddiau Kate yn pasio heibio.