Guest blog: Learning about taxidermy at Blackburn Museum

With thanks to Caroline Eccles from Huckleberry Films in Accrington for sharing his blog with visitlancashire.com.  

Just before Christmas I attended a 1 day beginners taxidermy course at Blackburn Museum. It was led by self taught vegan taxidermist Nicola Hebson, who has been practicing taxidermy since 2011.

Nicola welcomed us all to the class, and explained the techniques by demonstrating on a little white mouse.  I was a little bit queasy watching as she made the first incision - but it was a lot less messy than I’d expected, and really amazing to see how quickly she worked. Then it was time for us to put on our latex gloves and get started ourselves! We each selected our own mouse, and began to follow the same process that we had just watched. Nicola was really helpful, assisting with tricky bits and offering advice throughout.