Shropshire's Flora Collection

Shropshire has a huge variety of wildlife. There are upland heather moors and fertile lowlands networked with hedgerows. The river Severn snaking its way through the county is home to a large variety of animals and plants, as is a wonderful wetland complex of mere's and mosses in North Shropshire created by a colossal ice sheet at least 300 metres thick which covered the county 18,000 years ago.
Surprisingly, some of the best wildlife areas in the county are those which have been radically disturbed. Abandoned limestone quarries, such as the one at Llanymynech, provide perfect conditions for a huge variety of plant species, including hoary ragwort, yellow-wort, marjoram and thyme, common spotted and bee orchids. Shropshire has 50 designated ‘wild places’ and over 37 nature reserves.

Shropshire Museum Service holds many items relating to past and current animal and plant life of Shropshire and their database can be searched here.

SCC Museum collections

The Museum Service cares for thousands of specimens of Flora and Fauna from the Shropshire area.