Carlisle Natural History Society was founded in 1893 and has met in Tullie House Museum since 1894. The Society and the Museum have a special relationship; members of the Society regularly visit the Museum to study and document the natural history collections and work on the Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre wildlife records database, whilst museum and CBDC staff support the Society’s activities. There are presently some 200 members in the Society, living across Cumbria and Britain.

Winter lectures cover a wide variety of natural history subjects, both local and worldwide.

Summer field meetings, led by experts from within and outside the Society, visit sites of wildlife interest across the region and focus on a wide range wildlife subjects from birds to beetles, sealife to snails, moths to mammals and flowers to flies.

The society’s members-only Facebook group gives the opportunity to talk with other members between meetings.

The Lakeland Naturalist is the journal of the Society. Issued twice a year it publishes original articles, notes and records pertaining to the wildlife of Cumbria. The Society also publishes other Transactions, checklists, ID guides and other publications that can be found on this website.

This short film from 2013 includes some reflections on the society from both long-standing and newer members: