A DISPLAY that was first put together more than 100 years ago is today revamped and making a spectacular visual feature at Ipswich Museum.

A DISPLAY that was first put together more than 100 years ago is today revamped and making a spectacular visual feature at Ipswich Museum.

A rare display of birds caught and preserved from the Bass Rock area of Scotland in 1903, can now been seen in all its restored glory at the museum.

The bid to get the ageing display back to its former glory began a year ago after the project was awarded £15,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The display features large birds found on the Bass Rock, a 313ft area of cliff and rock home to the largest gannet colony on the east coast of Britain.

Archaeology graduate and trainee natural history conservator, Suzanne Hill, 26, has been working with school and college student volunteers to add the painstaking detail that makes the feature so impressive.

She said: “It's taken the best part of a year to conserve all 30 birds and everything had to be cleaned, repainted and repaired.

“We even repainted the poo to make it more life-like!

“If you'd seen it a year ago it looked very dull, dusty and grimy.”

Bob Entwistle, senior conservation officer for Colchester and Ipswich Museum Services, said: “This display is part of the museum's history.

“The seaweed alone is 104-years-old and when we got it out to clean it you could still smell the salt.

“It makes you appreciate what we have and what we should preserve.”

The display is open to the public during museum opening times, from Tuesdays to Saturdays, 10am until 5pm.

Is enough done to protect Suffolk's heritage? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk