For this local amateur naturalist, the world is full of treasure

By Christy Nadalin
Posted 1/18/21

The impulse to collect treasures found in nature has been described as a number of things, including a desire to preserve the past or impose order on the future. Classification of things found in …

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For this local amateur naturalist, the world is full of treasure

Posted

The impulse to collect treasures found in nature has been described as a number of things, including a desire to preserve the past or impose order on the future.

Classification of things found in nature is thought to create a satisfying comfort zone of order in a natural world that is otherwise completely beyond our control.

Since the 1700's, globe-trotting aristocrats and adventurers have traveled the world looking for fossils and shells, creating collections that evolved into the scientific foundations of much of what we know of the natural world today. They include great names like Charles Darwin, John James Audubon, Barnum Brown, and Louis Leakey.

Bristol's Leigh Medeiros, a writer and visual artist, will laugh at being placed in such company, but her small (and growing) collection of found items puts her firmly in their genus (if not yet their league). "Is there a human who doesn't pick things up?" she said. "For me, I think it's this impulse to reconnect to the natural cycle that we feel we have disconnected from, and to look at how other things live and die."

"Everything has a story."

Items in Leigh's collection range from feathers and wasp nests, to shells, snake skins, and skulls. A recent find included an owl pellet, right on a downtown Bristol sidewalk. Once dissolved, it revealed a complete skeleton of a shrew. Another item, found right in her own porch cushions, is a nearly perfectly spherical beginning of an insect nest, with a window revealing a tiny collection of hexagon chambers.
"I'm not really drawn to things like leaves," Leigh said. "For me, growing up in Rhode Island it's sea creatures and pottery — and bugs, even though they repulse me," she said.

Her collection is really the natural result of training an artist's eye on the world around her, on daily walks through Bristol with her dog Sadie. From bones on the beach to pottery shards emerging from the dirt near a water main dig, Leigh's eyes find the beauty in the form and function of an incredible array of objects. Though many of her treasured objects have been found on the shoreline, from her collection of surf-worn sea pottery to a mostly-intact ribcage of a deer, she suggests keeping your eyes open no matter where you are. "Pay attention to your surroundings," she said. You can find things anywhere — even in the city. There's no disconnect from the natural world."

For a time, as Leigh's collection grew, it took up residence on her windowsills, which quickly became chaotic. Drawing inspiration from the RISD nature lab — and another fortunate find, this one at the late consignment store Second Helpings — she brought home a wood and glass curiosity cabinet that now holds her collection.

For Leigh, the biggest benefit, and inspiration, to being an amateur naturalist is the connection it affords with the world around you. "See yourself as part of nature, not an outsider. Appreciate the gift of connection and recognize yourself as part of the life, death, and birth cycle."

Other advice she offers to would-be collectors:
• Don’t take anything that’s still alive (like clams in shells or half-dead bugs).
• Familiarize yourself with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Eagle Protection Act that makes it illegal to possess certain bird parts including feathers and/or bird’s nests.
• Be respectful. Don’t hoard items. Don’t trespass on people’ property without permission. Don’t damage habitat (such as beach dunes where birds may be nesting).
• Acknowledge the land and its original Native American stewards.
• Seek natural treasures where you live.
• Wash your hands when done. (Feathers and bones can have diseases, etc.)
• Consider getting a shelf, box, or cabinet for your finds instead of letting them collect dust on the sill. 
• Pick up fishing line or balloon string if you come across any as it's dangerous to sea birds and other critters.

"Seek natural treasures where you live," Leigh said. "You don’t have to be in the deep wilderness or at the shore to find beautiful things."

Leigh Medeiros

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