The Beagle Has Landed! Happy Darwin Day 2024 Darwin’s 215th Birthday

Charles Darwin as a young Victorian gentleman of science, during Voyage of The HMS Beagle, during which he visited the island of St. Helena 1982 Stamp issue 1982. 

It’s Darwin Day today, an international celebration of Darwin’s travels, life  and research.

Happy Birthday Charles Darwin, 215 years young …

What, we ask visiting Year 6 groups of 10 to 11 year olds , is the name of the most famous ship or boat and voyage in the world?

or if its a local school “What is the most famous boat or ship to have sailed into Cornish waters and Falmouth harbour?”  

We get an interesting range of answers to this most famous or important voyage. “Titanic” is a very common answer!  The Apollo mission “Eagle has Landed” is another curious one.

The correct version should of course be “The Beagle Has Landed”! (“One small step for a seasick man, one giant leap for mankind …”)

Darwin / Inheritance and Evolution is still a popular science curriculum topic or theme for Year 6 / Junior Primary visits to the zoo, and it’s especially interesting  with our local  Southwest Britain / Cornish  connections to Darwin and his famous voyage.

Some of the HMS Beagle’s  crew were from the Plymouth  (still a ‘grey port’ or Royal Navy port) and Cornwall area.

He started his HMS Beagle voyage in Plymouth in 1831 and arrived home on October 1836 in Falmouth.

Plaque marking spot of Darwin’s landfall from HMS Beagle voyage, October 2 1836 in Falmouth and his departure home through Cornwall and Devon back to Shrewsbury by coach.

This is still marked in Falmouth with the 2009 ‘landfall’ plaque from the Darwin 200 celebrations. One object we mention to school groups or children to look out for when shopping or visiting in Falmouth.

Limited Edition Print. 'Beagle in the Bay, Falmouth' by Cornish Artist John Dyer. Cornwall Art Gallery Print

Exciting to think that the tiny little HMS Beagle once docked in Falmouth (now home to the many boats of the National Maritime Museum Cornwall) and Darwin travelled home through the wild landscapes of Cornwall.

In my Darwin, Inheritance and Evolution year 6 talks last week at the zoo, I used as a ‘memory prompt’ one of my last few copies of the stamp book that Sandie Robb at RZSS and I put together back in Darwin 200 year in 2009. We tend to future focus our talk to think about how Darwin’s ideas are useful to zoo keepers today working in conservation.

I am impressed by the amount of knowledge primary children have ‘soaked up’ about polar explorers like Shackleton or Scott, fossil hunters like Mary Anning  or travelling scientists like Darwin. The biographical approach of the life story or adventures seems to work well and there are now many colourful children’s books out there for home education or classroom projects.

Darwin used the chance to study ‘live’ animal behaviour in animal collections in scientific zoos like ZSL London Zoo and the ‘dead zoo’ of museums extensively in his research. We mention this to school groups visiting today are following that tradition and wonder what Darwin would make of a modern zoo if he returned to wander around Edinburgh Zoo, or Newquay Zoo or London Zoo today.

Always interesting, the questions that we are asked about Darwin and animals and zoos by groups at the end of a mini-session chat over by an animal enclosure!

Charles Darwin the old Victorian gentleman of science, Mauritius –  Darwin linked island 1982 stamps.

Best wishes for Darwin Day however you celebrate  Darwin’s life, travels and writing … 

RZSS Edinburgh Zoo https://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/education/ 

Newquay Zoo https://www.newquayzoo.org.uk/wild-learning/

**** February 2024 – I have a last few couple of copies of the Darwin stamp book available post free to schools or other zoos (UK only) – contact me if interested by email via our website or our Newquay Zoo Education webpage. ****

Blog posted by Mark Norris, Newquay Zoo Education Department on 12 February 2024

Happy 214th Birthday Charles Darwin!

We have missed wishing Charles Darwin a Happy Birthday at Newquay Zoo and on this blog over the last year or two on February 12th due to all the disruption of Covid.

This year our Schools Go Free in 23 offer, designed to celebrate another birthday, that of our sister zoo Paignton Zoo as part of Wild Planet Trust,  has seen lots of educational visits to Newquay Zoo and Paignton Zoo.

Interestingly we have had a fair number of requests from schools for ‘mini session’ chats at an enclosure (with time for  questions) for Darwin and Evolution (usually Year 6 or KS2). Darwin was no stranger to zoos such as London Zoo, which were a valuable resource of living animals for him to observe as he patiently collected information towards the Origin of Species, Descent of Man and his many other books.

We usually talk a bit about how Darwin’s ideas and methods inform what we do as scientists, zoologists and zoo keepers in zoos today to protect endangered animals.

Whilst our temporary  Darwin Room / Explorer’s classroom display (see birthday post in 2019) is sadly no more, now that our Education building is being replaced by a newer incarnation, it’s good to see that interesting topics like Dinosaurs and Darwin  still ignite the questioning minds of another generation of young scientists and citizens.

Condensing Darwin’s life and the story of how he worked out his theory of Evolution and Natural Selection into 20+ minutes is a challenge, but one which has been helped by the Darwin in Stamps booklet that Sandie Robb at RZSS Edinburgh Zoo and I wrote back in bicentenary year of 2009.

Charles Darwin the young Victorian gentleman of science, before the famous beard was established – image taken from a portrait sketch as a young man in the late 1830s around the time of his marriage to Emma Wedgewood and shortly after his return in 1836 from the Voyage of The HMS Beagle, during which he visited the island of St. Helena. Stamp issue 1982, marking 100 years since his death. An attractive border showing ‘biodiversity’ links this portrait set of Darwin 1982 (Darwin’s death centenary) island issue stamps.

Apparently Darwin features on more stamp issues than any other person who is not a member of a Royal family like Queen Victoria or Queen Elizabeth II.

I carry a copy of the Darwin in Stamps booklet with me during these school talks to show some of the beautiful stamps about Darwin and his animal discoveries and travels. It’s proved a great summary of his life, travels and  his BIG QUESTIONS about life, especially useful as much of our Darwin materials over the last few months have been packed away with our fossils in a shipping container during our zoo classroom move / rebuild.

I found about 15 to 20 unclaimed copies of this publication during the rebuild. This means  for a limited period I will be able to offer again a class library copy free to a few more visiting schools studying this fascinating topic.

So happy birthday Charles Darwin for the 12th of February today – celebrated all over the world – and throughout this centenary year to our Wild Planet Trust sister zoo, Paignton Zoo, founded by Herbert Whitley in 1923. I’m sure the two men would have had lots of animal observations in common to talk about, especially  their shared interest in pigeon breeds and breeding.

Darwin Day Wikipedia entry

International Darwin Day website

Blog posted by Mark Norris, Newquay Zoo Education Department, Cornwall, UK, 12 February 2023. All views my own.

Happy 210th Birthday Charles Darwin Darwin Day 2019

It barely seems possible that it is ten whole years since we celebrated Darwin 200, Darwin’s bicentenary on 12 February 2009.

Has the world changed much since then?

I’m sure many animals and their habitats have become rarer since 2009.

More not very cheerful news about wildlife … The Guardian 11 February 2019

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/techandscience/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature/ar-BBTqKNn

It’s not all sad news – the small children I meet through my job teaching at Newquay Zoo are still just as fascinated by animals, especially dinosaurs, as ever.

“I am sad because dinosaurs are extinct” – Cornish pupil’s thank you letter to Newquay Zoo after  our Darwin Dinosaurs and Fossils workshop. 

Darwin Stamp blog co-founder Mark Norris: I’m still working in Education at Newquay Zoo.  Darwin, dinosaurs, Mary Anning, fossils, evolution and living fossils have become a much more requested and popular topic in British, sorry English, primary schools after the National Curriculum changes c. 2013/14.

https://www.newquayzoo.org.uk/education-clubs/school-visits/primary

Some great thank you letters. Lovely corner of my classroom at Newquay Zoo celebrates Charles Darwin and Mary Anning  (2019) – that should read ‘mammoth fur’. 

Alexandra (‘Sandie’) Robb is still working at RZSS Edinburgh Zoo  and has spent a large part of the last ten years on Chinese language, foreign language and Panda related projects – with stamps sneaking in again  as well. https://learning.rzss.org.uk/course/view.php?id=46

We worked together in 2009 on this blog site and the associated limited edition free to schools  publication Charles Darwin: A Life in Stamps.  

Curiously this is the most remarked upon item in my fossil cabinet of curiosities – the old £10 note featuring Darwin. Newquay Zoo, 2019

My geological hammer and a few spare ammonites from my last trip to Lyme Regis in my fossil cabinet of curiosities, Newquay Zoo classroom, 2019

“Mary Anning had a dog and Mary was brave.” A portrait of Mary Anning and her dog like none you have seen before! Very young Cornish school pupil’s  thank you letter to Newquay Zoo.

“Mary Anning had a dog and Mary was brave” written next to a portrait of Mary Anning and her dog like none you have seen before from a very young Cornish school pupil’s thank you letter to Newquay Zoo.

Meteorites, mammoth fur, fossils and plastic dinosaurs – bliss! 

An attractive cabinet of curiosities in our Lynx Room Classroom, much looked at by visiting school children and students,  Newquay Zoo 2019. 

Last year we revamped one of our zoo  classrooms to look more like the lovely Darwin Room in the Education Centre at our sister Zoo Paignton Zoo.

Our busy new Darwin Room classroom at Newquay Zoo  now looks like this (below)  after brilliant in-house work by our maintenance teams  – a glimpse, as I shall feature more in a future blogpost.

Skins, skulls – one corner of our Darwin Room explorer’s classroom of curiosities, Newquay Zoo, 2019

Essential reading …

Our Darwin Room classroom at Newquay Zoo – I want this at home! 

In 2009 we worked on a Heritage Lottery Fund project with Cornish painter John Dyer and the Falmouth Art Gallery team.

Although sadly the original Darwin 200 exhibition Falmouth Art gallery Curator Brian Stewart has now passed away, we still have partnership links and hope to contribute to their Stuff and Nonsense summer 2019 exhibition. This celebrates Edward Lear and many other amazing and funny people, following up Lear’s bicentenary in 2012 https://teachingnonsenseinschools.wordpress.com/

http://www.falmouthartgallery.com/Exhibitions/2019/1438~Stuff_and_Nonsense

Happy Birthday Charles Darwin, 210 years young and still inspiring many people of all ages  to ask interesting questions about the world around us!

I wonder where and how Darwin’s 220th birthday in 2029 will find us all?

Blog posted by Mark Norris on behalf of the Darwin Stamp Zoo blog, Darwin Day, 12 February 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Darwin Initiative 2017 Jersey Zoo stamps

 

 

https://darwininitiativeuk.wordpress.com/2017/10/10/darwin-initiatives-25th-anniversary-celebrated-on-jersey-stamps/

150 years of the Shipping Forecast

Darwin’s Captain, Captain Fitzroy of HMS  Beagle, introduced the Shipping Forecast in 1867 in his later career.

It was introduced several years after the Royal Charter Storm losses in 1859, the a month before the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species on 22 November 1859.

“On the night of 25^th/26^th October 1859 a severe and slow moving storm struck the British Isles. It was considered to be the most severe storm to hit the Irish Sea in the 19^th century. The storm depression was first noted in the Bay of Biscay near Cape Finisterre on 24^th – 25^th. The centre progressed northwards over Britain from Cornwall to the Yorkshire Coast and the strongest winds in the system developed as a rather narrow stream from the N or NNE over the Irish Sea. The winds reached hurricane force 12 on the Beaufort Scale and were estimated at well over 100mph. Wind speeds recorded in the Mersey were higher than any previously recorded.

The storm took 800 lives and 133 ships with a further 90 badly damaged. Twice as many people were lost at sea around the British Isles than in the whole of 1858.

The most famous ship to founder during the night was the steam clipper Royal Charter, which foundered on the north coast of Anglesey. The ship was on the last leg of her two month journey from Melbourne to Liverpool. She was one of the fastest and most famous emigrant ships operating during the years of the Australian Gold Rush and could carry up to 600 passengers and some cargo.”   Source: Met Office website

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/library/archive-hidden-treasures/royal-charter

Some lovely Fitzroy and  150th anniversary  material on the Met Office site

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/2017/150th-anniversary-of-the-shipping-forecast

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/mostly-weather/episode10

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-41030909/radio-4-s-shipping-forecast-reaches-150-years-old

Winds light to variable …Winds light to variable …

Posted by Mark Norris, Darwin 200 stamp project.

Welcome Home Charles Darwin Falmouth 2nd October 1836

Plaque marking spot of Darwin’s landfall from HMS Beagle voyage, Oct 2 1836 in Falmouth and his departure home by coach.

180 years ago Charles Darwin arrived back in Falmouth aboard the HMS Beagle, after 5 years away at sea.

https://wordpress.com/post/darwin200stampzoo.wordpress.com/389

It hardly seems 10 years since I was taking photos in Falmouth and Flushing harbour using a tiny Britain’s 54mm Darwin figure and a model ship to publicise what was the forthcoming Darwin 200 celebration in 2009. (In fact I had started working on the project at Newquay Zoo ten years beforehand in 1996 on the 160th anniversary.)

You can read more about Darwin 200, his life in stamps and his work on the previous blogposts.

 

 

 

Heading home aboard HMS Beagle 180 years ago

Charles Darwin first day cover Falklands 1982

180 years ago a 26 year old young Englishman prepares for the final part of his journey home on one of the most impressive round the world “gap years” in history.

August 17 1836 aboard HMS Beagle, a young Charles Darwin prepares to  leave South America for the last time. Along with the Captain Fitzroy and crew of HMS Beagle, they were  heading home for the first time after 5 years away.

He arrived in Falmouth harbour in Cornwall on HMS Beagle on October 2 1836.

Plaque marking spot of Darwin’s landfall from HMS Beagle voyage, Oct 2 1836 in Falmouth and his departure home by coach. Erected during the Darwin Bicentenary 2009.

Unlike Fitzroy and the Royal Navy crew of HMS Beagle, the often seasick Darwin would never go to sea or leave Britain again.

Read more of our past blogposts by Sandie Robb at RZSS Edinburgh Zoo and Mark Norris at Newquay Zoo for more about Darwin’s life and work, his life commemorated in postage stamps, the 200th Birthday celebrations in 2009, Alfred Russel Wallace, using stamps in schools or zoos as a teaching resource and celebrating many things Victorian!

Blog posted by Mark Norris, Newquay Zoo – Darwin Stamp Zoo blog, 17 August 2016

Queen Elizabeth 2nd overtakes Queen Victoria as UK longest reigning monarch

Today 9th September 2015 Queen Elizabeth 2nd becomes Britain’s longest-reigning monarch (1952-2015),  when she passes the record set by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria (1837-1901).

 1990 Royal Mail double header.

The Queen will have reigned for 63 years and seven months – an amazing  23,226 days!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34177107

Congratulations, Ma’am!

This has led to a range of postal commemoratives such as this Isle of Man stamp first day cover from the Westminster Collection:

2015 Postal 9.9.15 commemorative of the Queen’s longest reign.

Inspiration for Primary History Teaching – Two Queens

The different reign of the two queens is covered in some units based on the Primary History National Curriculum such as Cornwall Learning’s Inspire Curriculum Year 2 National Celebration Two Queens :  http://theinspirecurriculum.co.uk/product/national-celebration

Inspire Curriculum’s Year 2 interesting Two Queens National Celebration unit looking at Victorians and today.

There is a similar Curriculum map for Year 6 A Voyage of Discovery covering Charles Darwin’s voyages and the Victorians.

This is an exciting opportunity to combine Science and History (of Science) and Geography (and RE)  which should be interesting to explore in the classroom and at zoo workshops or offsites. We had great fun exploring these topics in schools and at the zoo and galleries in Darwin 200 Bicentenary Year 2009:

We also saw an interesting postal related unit  for Year 1 called Posting and Places. This involves letter and postcard writing (and led to a flurry of enquiries and visit requests about penguins at Newquay Zoo last Spring). Maybe stamp design could creep in somewhere?

So an amazing history record by Queen Victoria and some great opportunities to explore topics in the classroom and enjoy  Victorians, stamps and postal history as learning opportunities and fascinating hobby learning.

New FREE Learning Resource for Key Stages 1-3

Source: New FREE Learning Resource for Key Stages 1-3

175th anniversary of the Penny Black the world’s first adhesive postage stamp

Today the 1st of  May 2015 is the 175th birthday of the Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp issued in 1840.

How technology has changed is shown by the event being marked by a ‘Google doodle’ of the Penny Black.

The stamp that started it all – the Penny Black of 1840, Young Queen Victoria’s head

The stamp features a portrait of the very young Queen Victoria, then only twenty, newly married by months  and only  three years into her reign.

Charles Darwin was four years back from the Beagle Voyage and working on his researches, which involved a mass of correspondence, so many many Penny Blacks!

You can read more about the Penny Black at the British Postal Museum website.