Thomas Hudson Nelson and his Birds

These Yelkouan Shearwater, or Levantine Shearwater as they are sometimes known, were one of the first specimens Nelson collected. They choose to breed on Mediterranean cliffs and islands, so it was unusual for this pair to be sighted in Yorkshire around 1877.

They are medium sized seabirds, favouring coastal areas and islands, specifically Le Levant Island off the south coast of France where they get their name from.  They like to eat fish and molluscs, and nest in burrows to avoid gulls who usually like to eat them.

Scaup Ducks

These scaup ducks are diving ducks and resemble tufted ducks. They prefer wetlands or coastal areas and eat aquatic plants, insects and molluscs. They prefer northern countries like Northern Europe, Canada and Iceland. They only flock to places like Redcar in winter and don’t tend to breed in England. They may have been shot and stuffed by Nelson in the early 1890s.

Gannet

Gannets are large seabirds, their plumage changes as they get older, going from dark grey to white in four years. They like to breed in the UK, preferring coastal areas. They like to dive for fish, sometimes entering the water at 60 miles per hour. Nelson collected these birds between Redcar and Ailsa Craig in Scotland.

Raven

This raven was the pet of Nelson in his effort to learn more about birds. He wrote about his bird in his book, claiming that it could talk and hide objects that it wanted to keep safe. He also told the anecdote of how it made snowballs from fallen snow and hid them, only to not know that the snow would melt and looked sad when it could not find his snowballs.

In the wild ravens are just as intelligent, luring predators to carcasses so they can open the body and feed off scraps. They use broken off twigs as toys and play with other ravens. Younger ravens tend to flock, then pair off when they get older.

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine falcons are resident to the UK, one of the places they choose to migrate to is the North East coast of England. During Nelson’s lifetime they had fallen out of fashion and regarded as ‘pests’. By the 1960s their numbers were in swift decline, and while they are now protected and their numbers have risen, they are still hunted and persecuted.

Curlew

Curlews are England’s largest wading birds. They are resident across the country and prefer the Yorkshire Coast during winter migration. While Nelson already had curlew specimens in his collection, this one was killed in a storm in Redcar in 1914. Given the date, it could have been one of the last specimens in his collection before his death.

He also collected and purchased guillemot eggs from climmers on the Yorkshire Coast. The actions of the climmers reduced the numbers of birds to such as extent that the practice of collecting birds eggs was banned in 1954.

While Nelson’s collection of taxidermy birds and eggs is significant, most of his birds and eggs are protected by law and nowadays their collecting is frowned upon.

His large collection of taxidermy birds and eggs was bequeathed to Dorman Museum in 1914, two years before he died.