The early modern period from the 16th to the 18th century was an important time for recording wildlife in Britain and Ireland. More people than ever before were collecting records and inviting contributions from across the commonwealth of letters. The difficulties with properly identifying sites were being addressed, and progress in scientific description meant that writers were increasingly confident in identifying the species they saw.
At the same time, early modern Britain and Ireland was host to an incredible range of wildlife. Species now extinct in Britain and Ireland like the Great Auk, Burbot and Wolf were still well known, while others like the Rabbit and Red-legged Partridge were much less widespread than they are today.
This lecture will present the research behind the Atlas of Early Modern Wildlife (Pelagic Publishing, 2023) as well as introducing the distribution and status of some interesting species in early modern Britain and Ireland.
Dr Lee Raye is an associate lecturer at the Open University and a fellow of the Linnean Society. They specialise in the history of wild animals and plants in pre-industrial Britain and Ireland. Lee has published research related to early modern natural history in Bird Study, and Mammal Communications, as well as The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal for the History of Science.
Twitter @LeafyHistory
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