Ferntastic: Natural History Museum reveals latest dinosaur resident in its new gardens

From Thursday 18 July, the Natural History Museum’s reimagined gardens will open their gates. Visitors can explore, rest and connect with urban nature in the free-to-visit green space in the heart of London this summer.

To mark their opening, a stunning new bronze cast of the Museum’s much-loved Diplodocus has today been unveiled, standing proud within the gardens. Following much speculation, the new dino resident’s name Fern was revealed by local school children. Fern is supported by Kusuma Trust.

The five acres of green space wrapping around the Museum’s much-loved building have been transformed into two outdoor living galleries ripe for exploration: the Nature Discovery Garden supported by the Cadogan Charity and the Evolution Garden.

Creating a sustainable design that works with the landscape and taking an ambitious approach to sustainable construction – from a diesel-free site and no waste sent to landfill to harvesting rainwater for the plants – has been at the heart of the redevelopment. The Museum’s Wildlife Garden was extended to double the area of native habitats within the grounds and the pond area has been increased by 60%, to better support the animal and plant life diversity.

Evolution Garden

In the Evolution Garden, discover a journey from deep time to modern day. Learn about 2.7 billion years of history of our planet, told through the immersive timeline of plants, rocks of different geological periods from across the UK, and gleaming representations of reptiles, birds and mammals.

The Evolution Timeline, supported by the Evolution Education Trust, begins with an awe-inspiring canyon clad in ancient stone from Scotland.

As visitors emerge from the canyon into the Evolution Garden, they will be greeted by the graceful gaze of Fern. Don’t miss the garden’s second bronze dinosaur at Fern’s side, Hypsilophodon which was native to the UK. Both dinosaurs stand within the Jurassic Garden also supported by Kusuma Trust.

Benches nestled in the landscape throughout the gardens encourage visitors to take a moment to relax and enjoy the gardens. The Garden Kitchen, opening later this year, will also provide a welcome cafe break.

Nature Discovery Garden

The Nature Discovery Garden is a space for visitors and scientists alike to find out more about the extraordinary wildlife on our doorsteps today.

Different habitats represent the rich biodiversity that can be found in the UK’s urban spaces. An accessible sunken pathway winds between the ponds, where frogs, newts, dragonflies and mandarin ducks have already been spotted making themselves at home.

As part of the garden, the Nature Activity Centre supported by Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a purpose-built space for learning about the urban nature on our doorstep. It combines facilities for scientific work, a training space for future urban ecologists and a hub for school workshops and family activities in the gardens.

Get involved this summer

Explorers of all ages can get hands on with nature this summer, from pond dipping to garden trails.

An Audio Guide will bring the stories of the gardens to life, featuring interviews with our scientists and poetry co-produced with blind and partially sighted young people.

Dr Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum, said: “We are incredibly excited for visitors to get lost in nature and the story of our planet, stretching back 2.7 billion years, as they explore our completely transformed gardens this summer. Beneath the graceful gaze of our newest dinosaur Fern, two immersive outdoor galleries are already teeming with wildlife. It’s the perfect place for all to connect with and learn about the nature on our doorsteps.

We know that for people and planet to thrive, we must act to support urban nature recovery. As well as a new way for visitors to engage with the Museum, our reimagined gardens will play a vital role in understanding how nature in our towns and cities is responding to a changing planet, and how we can better safeguard it.”

Urban Nature Project

The transformation of the five-acre site is part of the Museum’s Urban Nature Project, responding to the urgent need to monitor and record changes to UK urban nature and support its recovery.

As well as a place for visitors to explore the diversity of life on Earth, the gardens are a living laboratory, and one of the most intensively studied urban nature sites of its kind in the world.

Scientists will observe wildlife and collect eDNA samples from the gardens. A network of 25 scientific sensors will also gather environmental and acoustic data – from underwater recordings in the pond and the buzz of insect wings to bird calls to traffic noise – to help them understand how urban nature is changing and what we can do to support its recovery. Once fully installed, the network of sensors in the gardens will collect up to 20 terabytes of audio data in the first year.

The Museum is working in partnership with global cloud provider, Amazon Web Services (AWS), to enrich and accelerate this vital work. The data collected from the gardens will be fed into the Museum’s new Data Ecosystem, a data platform built using AWS cloud technologies. The Data Ecosystem helps the Museum’s team of scientists to collect, enrich and share multiple biodiversity data types alongside environmental data such as water chemistry, rapidly and accurately, from a range of sources.

To date, 57,000 visual wildlife observations have been uploaded to the Data Ecosystem, from historic data from the Museum’s wildlife gardens since 1995 right up to the transformed gardens opening in July 2024.

“We are delighted to work with the Natural History Museum to use digital technology to build a better scientific understanding of the UK’s biodiversity and identify the solutions to support the recovery of nature in urban environments”, said Tanuja Randery, EMEA Managing Director at Amazon Web Services.

“The new Data Ecosystem, built on AWS, is already transforming and accelerating the Museum’s scientific research and community science capabilities, helping scientists to collaborate and access data through a secure and scalable platform. As the gardens open, we will continue to see the amount of data available to the Museum’s scientists grow in volume and richness.”

A wide variety of trusts, foundations, companies and individuals are supporting the Urban Nature Project including Amazon Web Services, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Evolution Education Trust, The Cadogan Charity, Garfield Weston Foundation, Kusuma Trust, the Wolfson Foundation, Charles Wilson and Rowena Olegario, Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, Clore Duffield Foundation, Workman LLP and Accenture.

A key strand of the project, Explore: Urban Nature, is delivered in partnership with the Garfield Weston Foundation, alongside all 12 museum and nature delivery partners. Since 2021, it has been providing school children aged 9-14 with exciting opportunities to dig into what urban nature is, what it does, how it's changing, and what they can do to support it.

Over 2,000 people so far including Museum members, patrons, visitors and members of the local community have also supported the Urban Nature Project by purchasing one of the gift opportunities in the Gardens. This includes sponsoring a square metre of the garden and having a loved one’s name engraved on a brass railing or a bench plaque. For more information and opportunities to support the public appeal, visit the website.

Visitors should book a free ticket in advance online for guaranteed entry to the Museum. Tickets are currently available for visits until 31 December 2024. Members, Patrons and Corporate Supporters do not need to book general admission or exhibition tickets. Arrive at any time and you will have priority access.

Notes to Editors

Images are available in the press pack here.

Visit https://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/galleries-and-museum-map/our-gardens.html

To register interest in attending the press preview ahead of the gardens opening, please email press@nhm.ac.uk.

Press contact

Natural History Museum Press Office

Tel: +44 (0)20 7942 5654 / 07799690151

Email: press@nhm.ac.uk

About The Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is a world-leading science centre and one of the most visited attractions in the UK. A global source of curiosity, inspiration and joy.

Our vision is to build a future in which both people and the planet thrive. We aim to be a catalyst for change, engaging advocates for the planet in everything that we do.

Our 350 scientists are finding solutions to the planetary emergency in all aspects of life.

Visit, join and support the Natural History Museum today. Protecting the planet. It's in our nature.

The Urban Nature Project

The Natural History Museum’s Urban Nature Project is designed in response to the urgent need to both monitor and record changes to, and support the recovery of, the UK's urban nature. Working in partnership with museums and wildlife organisations across the UK, the project is developing online, onsite and national monitoring and community science programmes as well as transform the Museum’s five-acre gardens in South Kensington into a globally relevant urban nature ‘epicentre’, helping to safeguard nature’s future.

Architects and construction

Architects Feilden Fowles, worked in collaboration with landscape architects J & L Gibbons and alongside a multidisciplinary design team which includes Gitta Gschwendtner, engineers HRW and Max Fordham. The scheme is being delivered as a net zero carbon and zero waste project by project manager Mace and contractor Walter Lilly.

Supporters and Sponsors

A wide variety of trusts, foundations, companies and individuals are supporting the Urban Nature Project including Amazon Web Services, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Evolution Education Trust, The Cadogan Charity, Garfield Weston Foundation, Kusuma Trust, the Wolfson Foundation, Charles Wilson and Rowena Olegario, Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, Clore Duffield Foundation, Workman LLP and Accenture.

Amazon Web Services

Since 2006, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

As the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033.

Over the next ten years, the Heritage Fund aims to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to bring about benefits for people, places and the natural environment.

The Heritage Fund helps protect, transform and share the things from the past that people care about, from popular museums and historic places, our natural environment and fragile species, to the languages and cultural traditions that celebrate who we are.

The Heritage Fund is passionate about heritage and committed to driving innovation and collaboration to make a positive difference to people’s lives today, while leaving a lasting legacy for future generations to enjoy.

Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund www.heritagefund.org.uk.

Evolution Education Trust

The Evolution Education Trust helps raise awareness of the importance of the Theory of Evolution by funding impactful projects in the areas of therapeutics, education, conservation and fundamental research.

The Cadogan Charity

The Cadogan Charity supports communities, contributes to a sustainable environment and protects heritage. It has supported charities involved in animal welfare, education, conservation and the environment, military, medical research and social welfare.

Garfield Weston Foundation

Established in 1958, the Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded, grant-making charity which supports causes across the UK. In its latest financial year, the Foundation donated over £100 million. Since it was established, it has exceeded donations of more than £1.5 billion, of which well over half has been given in the past ten years.

One of the most respected charitable institutions in the UK, the Weston Family Trustees are descendants of the founder and they take a highly active and hands-on approach. The Foundation’s funding comes from an endowment of shares in the family business which includes Twinings, Primark, Kingsmill (all part of Associated British Foods Plc) and Fortnum & Mason, amongst others – a successful model that still endures today; as the businesses have grown, so too have the charitable donations.

Known for its transparency, flexibility and straightforward approach, the Foundation supports a broad range of charities from small community organisations to large national institutions. Around 2,000 charities across the UK benefit each year from the Foundation’s grants. https://garfieldweston.org/

Kusuma Trust

The Kusuma Trust UK is a family led philanthropic trust established in 2010 by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari. The Trust gives grants to organisations based on shared values and mutual interests in the UK, Gibraltar and India. Its current areas of interest are creating access to opportunities, improving health and well-being, and investing in our communities and environment.

The Wolfson Foundation

The Wolfson Foundation is an independent charity with a focus on research and education. Its aim is to support civil society by investing in excellent projects in science, health, heritage, humanities and the arts.

Since it was established in 1955, some £1 billion (£2 billion in real terms) has been awarded to more than 14,000 projects throughout the UK, all on the basis of expert review.

X: @wolfsonfdn

Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851

The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 was established in 1850 to organise the Great Exhibition. The Exhibition made a significant surplus which the Commission, under the guidance of Prince Albert, used to purchase an estate in South Kensington. This estate has developed to become a centre of scientific, cultural and educational excellence which now houses the Natural History, Science and V&A museums; Imperial College London; the Royal Colleges of Art and Music; and the Royal Albert Hall, all of which the Commission continues to support in their work in education, research, science and the arts. Today, it is focussed predominantly on awarding postgraduate Fellowships and Scholarships, for advanced study and research in science, engineering, the built environment and design. It also awards grants to support projects consistent with its overall aims, many of which are focused on raising the awareness of the young to the opportunities presented by science and engineering.

Clore Duffield Foundation

The Clore Duffield Foundation, established by Sir Charles Clore in 1964, will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2024.

Now chaired by Sir Charles Clore’s daughter, Dame Vivien Duffield, the Foundation supports UK charities working in the arts, education, social welfare and health.

Workman LLP

Workman LLP is the UK’s largest independently owned commercial Property Management and Building Consultancy firm, employing more than 850 staff across 11 UK offices, with a growing presence in Europe. Professional Property Management and Building Consultancy teams work with a client base which includes leading institutional funds, overseas investors, and property companies. What sets Workman apart from the competition is its specialist focus, national coverage, and independent status. For further information, visit workman.co.uk or to find out more about Workman’s drive to build biodiversity across its managed portfolio, visit www.workman-building-biodiversity.co.uk.

Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 750,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. We are uniquely able to deliver tangible outcomes because of our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song. These capabilities, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

Huo Family Foundation

The Huo Family Foundation's mission is to support education, communities, and the pursuit of knowledge. Through its donations, the Foundation hopes to improve the prospects of individuals, and to support the work of organisations seeking to ensure a safe and successful future for all society.