Cumberland House Natural History Museum

About

Portsmouth City Council is currently scaling back to only the business-critical operations in light of the latest guidelines around the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. As such, Portsmouth Museum will be closed until further notice. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Portsmouth is a very special place for wildlife in Britain. It has many different habitats in a very small area, and at Portsmouth Natural History Museum you can explore them all.

Displays introduce the wildlife of the area - past and present.

Use the weblink above to access the Museum's website for full information.

The Butterfly House
Following extensive redevelopment, The Butterfly House is now open! We have a huge array of neo-tropical butterflies, including swallowtails, morphos and owl butterflies. There is also the puparium where pupae are kept during their metamorphosis. The butterflies aren't the only thing to see, though, as there is a host of plant life within the greenhouse, including orchids, jasmine, banana, lemon trees and lantana. These aren't there to look pretty, however, but provide much-needed shade for the butterflies and food for the caterpillars. They've even become places for the happy butterflies to lay their eggs.

Please note: butterfly season is May - September.

The museum has a buggy park for use by visitors, but buggies are not allowed around the museum.

An accessible toilet and baby changing facilities are available.

Induction loops for hearing impaired visitors are installed.

Guide dogs are welcome.

Please contact the Museum for further details.

For further information please call 023 9281 5276.

Activities to try at home

Don't worry if you can't visit us at the museum right now. We have a host of activities for your little ones to try at home.

Download our beehive activity sheet and help the bee find its way back tp the hive.

Head out into the garden on a scavenger hunt to see what you can find.

Download and print out butterfly bookmarks, which can be personalised with your name.

See if you can find them all with the A to Z of Natural History wordsearch.

Print out and play the Beetle Game.

Make a brightly coloured butterfly to balance on your finger.

See if you can get a full house with Butterfly Bingo.