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Now for something completely different,the pool is covered in algae.The water cannot be disturbed in Spring and Summer, due to the breeding of the Great Crested Newt,which is the rarest newt found in Britain.The pool is actually the Reflecting Pool, one of the botananical gardens found in Dyffryn Gardens,Cardiff.
I visited my mother in law yesterday, like I do almost every weekend. 15 years ago I used to buy shortly expired film or film with close expiration date (the cheapest I could find) and hide it in her basement. Yesterday I picked couple of them and only now I realized the scale of the operation. I guess I have enough for the next 20 years. Yes, it's expired, colours and contrast are a bit faded, but will still yield beautiful results.
Mer Bleue Conservation Area, Greenbelt, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Mer Bleue (Bleue Sea in English) received this name because some early morning when the light strikes the mist that blankets the wetland, it creates a blue effect that seems as if you’re looking out over the sea. Located in the southeastern sector of Canada’s Capital Greenbelt, the 3,500-hectare Mer Bleue conservation area provides a unique opportunity to see a northern boreal landscape. The Mer Bleue Bog is approximately 7,700 years old and is a habitat for many species of rare plants, birds and other wildlife. The Mer Bleue Bog is one of the most outstanding natural features of the Greenbelt in Ottawa and is one of its most visited areas. Source: National Capital Commission (NCC)
Aire de conservation de la Mer Bleue, Ceinture de verdure, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
La Mer Bleue a reçu ce nom parce que, tôt le matin, lorsque la lumière frappe la brume qui recouvre la zone humide, elle crée un effet bleu qui donne l'impression que vous regardez la mer. Située dans le secteur sud-est de la Ceinture de verdure de la capitale du Canada, l'aire de conservation Mer Bleue de 3 500 hectares offre une occasion unique de voir un paysage boréal nordique. La tourbière Mer Bleue a environ 7 700 ans et est un habitat pour de nombreuses espèces de plantes rares, d'oiseaux et d'autres espèces sauvages. La tourbière Mer Bleue est l'une des caractéristiques naturelles les plus remarquables de la Ceinture de verdure à Ottawa et l'une de ses zones les plus visitées. Source : Commission de la capitale nationale (CCN)
www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designatio...
Skipwith Common is Natural England's newest National Nature Reserve and it has a wide variety of wildlife that anyone can enjoy.
Skipwith Common NNR
Occupying 274 hectares within the fabulous Escrick Park Estate, Skipwith Common is a wonderful place to visit at any time of year.
Species lovers can spend time discovering the variety of rare heathland plants and rich collection of dragonflies and other insects. There are also a huge array of birds that can be spotted in and around the reserve.
If you are interested in history you will enjoy the many bronze and iron age features that are scattered about the reserve. There are also the remains of Riccall airfield, where Halifax bomber crews were trained in the Second World War.
Where: North Yorkshire, between Selby and York
Main habitats: Wet and dry heathland and scrub woodland
Events
Throughout the year we have a wide variety of events taking place at Skipwith NNR. From fungus forays in the autumn to dawn chorus walks in the spring. Join us on one of our guided walks, as we look for residents of the common and share more about the enigmatic species found here.
Find out when our next event is taking place.
Friends of Skipwith Common
The Friends of Skipwith Commonexternal link were set up in 2003 and contribute a large number of hours of practical management, help look after the animals which are used to graze the site and take a particular interest in the archaeology on Skipwith Common NNR. They have a programme of guided walks and events both on the common, and at local community functions. They produce a quarterly newsletter and maintain their own website.
friendsofskipwithcommon.org.uk/
Skipwith: how to get there
Skipwith Common is in North Yorkshire
Skipwith Common can be accessed from the A19 from the village of Riccall or from A163 passing through the village of North Duffield.
We encourage the use of sustainable transport whenever possible
By train
The nearest train stations to Skipwith are Wressleexternal link and Selbyexternal link.
By bus
Bus services to and from Skipwith are provided by East Yorkshire Motor Serviceexternal link and York Pullman Bus Companyexternal link.
By car
There are three main access points to the reserve: Riccall Village along King Rudding Lane, Skipwith Village along Common Lane, Barlby (A163 Market Weighton Road, then up Cornelius Causeway).
There is a car park with two designated disabled parking bays on the site.
Additional travel information for the area is provided by Yorkshire Travelexternal link
Accommodation
Local accommodation includes a holiday park and camping and caravan sites near Skipwith and Cliffe villages. For details of where to stay locally visit the Yorkshire Tourismexternal link web site.
Additional information
Please keep dogs on leads and under close control throughout the year due to ground nesting birds and grazing livestock.
Refreshment facilities and basic services can be found in the nearby villages of Riccall, Skipwith and Barlby.
Skipwith Common: school and community groups
Skipwith Common National Nature Reserve offers exciting and engaging outdoor learning opportunities.
School visit to Skipwith Common NNR © Natural England
Bring a group to Skipwith to learn about its connection to World War II, try your hands at a real archaeological dig with experts or learn some wild science – it’s up to you!
Spectacular habitats to explore
Curriculum linked sessions
Equipment such as gps, environmental games and science resources available for use on site
Groups can: learn about the site and its archaeology, help with surveying key species on the site, see seasonal highlights, or get involved with practical conservation challenges on the NNR.
Practical information
Facilities: once you have left your coach or cars, the Common has no facilities, however, adult groups may be able to make use of the nearby public house in Skipwith Village for a lunch time break.
Toilets: there are no toilet facilities on site and most sessions will be arranged for a half day due to this.
Access: Skipwith Common is very flat and there is a good path network, woodland areas provide excellent outdoor classrooms kept clear thanks to our browsing livestock! There is an easy access route on the site which groups can use to see a selection of the World War II features. It is best to stick on or near the paths as there are inaccessible areas of the site, which help preserve its feel of a wilderness and its value as a National Nature Reserve.
More information
For further information or to see if anyone can assist with your visit, please contact Craig Ralston on 07917088021, or e-mail craig.ralston@naturalengland.org.uk
I don’t know the story behind the giant tree lying in the middle of this photograph, but I can tell you about the rest of the image . . .
Built in 1935 by Company 1770 of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the stone Dam and Spillway in the Hatchery Area at Montauk State Park was constructed as part of a trout hatchery development project that still stands today. During the depression, thousands of federal relief workers engaged in construction projects in Missouri’s park lands. Spurred on by New Deal program funding, much of this work was supervised by the National Park Service.
Early residents came to the area in the early 1800’s from New York and named their first post office after Montauk in Suffolk County, Long Island. Because of its proximity to several natural springs, including Montauk Spring with a daily average flow of 53 million gallons of water, four mills were constructed in the area. The last one, a gristmill built in 1896, still stands today and retains much of its original machinery. In 1926, the area became a Missouri state park, and many of the structures still standing were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Montauk State Park is located on 633 acres of land in the southern portion of Dent County, Missouri, and is one of three “trout parks” in the Missouri state park system.
© All rights reserved - - No Usage Allowed in Any Form Without the Written Consent of the photographer, Mark S. Schuver.
The best way to view my photostream is on Flickriver: Nikon66's photos on Flickriver
It is quite capable of making the entire journey :-) Bob Edwards
red rock canyon national conservation area, nevada
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Mujib
Wadi Mujib is a gorge in Jordan which enters the Dead Sea at 410 meters below sea level. The Mujib Reserve of Wadi Mujib is the lowest nature reserve in the world,[1] located in the mountainous landscape to the east of the Dead Sea, approximately 90 km south of Amman. The 220 square kilometers reserve was created in 1987 by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature and is regionally and internationally important, particularly for the bird life that the reserve supports.[2] It extends to the Kerak and Madaba mountains to the north and south, reaching 900 meters above sea level in some places. This 1,300 meter variation in elevation,[1] combined with the valley's year round water flow from seven tributaries, means that Wadi Mujib enjoys a magnificent biodiversity that is still being explored and documented today.[3] Over 300 species of plants, 10 species of carnivores and numerous species of permanent and migratory birds have been recorded until this date.[2] Some of the remote mountain and valley areas are difficult to reach, and thus offer safe havens for rare species of cats, goats and other mountain animals.
Geography of Mujib
During the last Ice Age the water level of the Dead Sea reached 180 m below sea level, about 230 m higher than it is today. It flooded the lower areas of the canyons along its banks, which became bays and begun to accumulate sediments. As the climatic conditions changed, about 20,000 years ago[citation needed], the water level of the lake dropped, leaving the re-emergent canyons blocked with lake marl. Most canyons managed to cut through their plugged outlets and to resume their lower courses. However, Wadi Mujib, the biblical Arnon River, abandoned its former outlet by breaking through a cleft in the sandstone. This narrow cleft became the bottleneck of an enormously large drainage basin with a huge discharge. During the years the cleft was scoured deeper and the gorge of Wadi Mujib was formed.
The Mujib reserve consists of mountainous, rocky, and sparsely vegetated desert (up to 800 m), with cliffs, gorges and deep wadis cutting through plateaus. Perennial, spring-fed streams flow down the wadis to the shores of the Dead Sea which lies 400 m below sea-level.
The slopes of the mountaineous land are very sparsely vegetated, with a steppe-type vegetation on plateaus. Groundwater seepage does occur in places along the Dead Sea shore, for example at the hot springs of Zara, which support a luxuriant thicket of Acacia, Tamarix, Phoenix and Nerium, and a small marsh. The less severe slopes of the reserve are used by pastoralists for the grazing of sheep and goats.
The hot springs of Hammamat Ma'in lie close to the borders of the reserve are heavily used for tourism/recreation.[3]
The Jordanian military have a temporary camp in the south of the reserve.
A large dam was recently finished at the bottom of the wadi, where the modern road crosses the river. As a result, a large lake has formed. Today, Wadi Mujib is fed by seven tributaries.
Bird and Animal Life in Mujib
As well as resident birds, the reserve is strategically important as a safe stop-over for the huge number of birds which fly annually along the rift valley between Africa & northeast Europe. It is possible to see the following birds in Mujib:
•Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus)
•Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)
•Eurasian Griffon (Gyps fulvus)
•Levant Sparrowhawk (Accipiter brevipes)
•Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni)
•Sooty Falcon (Falco concolor)
•Sand Partridge (Ammoperdix heyi)
•Hume's Owl (Strix butleri)
•Hooded Wheatear (Oenanthe monacha)
•Blackstart (Cercomela melanura)
•Arabian Babbler (Turdoides squamiceps)
•Striolated Bunting (Emberiza striolata)
•Trumpeter Finch (Bucanetes githagineus)
•Dead Sea Sparrow (Passer moabiticus)
•Tristram's Starling (Onychognathus tristramii)[4]
Many carnivores also inhabit the various vegetation zones in Mujib, such as the Caracal cat, striped hyena and the Syrian wolf. One of the most important animals in Mujib is the Nubian ibex, a large mountain goat which became threatened as a result of over-hunting.
My daughter Marie-France found her first caddisfly larva on a recent bug collection outing at Cooper Marsh Conservation Area.
A fantastic group from The Conservation Alliance was in DC this week, working with Congress and The White House on conserving our public lands for future generations. I had the distinct honor of representing Flickr and SmugMug on behalf of photographers who require access to these lands to do what they love.
Why not take a walk, around Snowshill, if you have time, please click "here"!
Snowshill is a small rural settlement in the north of the borough of Gloucestershire which lies on a ridgeway, with the villages of Broadway, Buckland and Laverton nearby. The village offers panoramic views from certain vantage points within the conservation area boundary, while surrounding landscapes, including the Cotswold Ridge and Avon Valley, offer limited views into the village. Snowshill is a small, remote upland settlement situated in the Cotswold Hills in the Cotswold Area of Natural Beauty (AONB). It is one of the highest villages in Gloucestershire at 1,000 feet above sea level. The village of Snowshill is on a small unclassified road which runs from Broadway to Bourton on the Water. It is a nucleated village – one where the houses are located round a focal point such as a church or village green. Historically Snowshill developed as a farming village with the main industry being wool production. Local stone quarries provided the primary building materials for the village; stone slate roofs and stone walls The topography of Snowshill and the surrounding landscape means that the village remains sheltered from external views. However from the outskirts of Snowshill, from higher land and within Snowshill, there are glimpses of the village. Over time Snowshill has had many variations in name, including Snawesill in the 1087 Domesday Book, Snausilla in 1227, and Snoweshulle in 1360. The name Snowshill appears for the first time in the Valuation of Crown Lands of 1570. Derived from the old English, snaw for snow and hyll for hill, the name of the village refers to its topographical meaning i.e. “Hill of Snow”. It is often said that snow remains in the folds of the hill long after it has melted in the Vale. Despite being a relatively small village with a little over 200 inhabitants, Snowshill has a long history. The settlement sits near a large amount of spring water; it is also positioned close to the path taken by two prehistoric trackways. In the early ninth century King Kenulf gave the manor of Snowshill and the tithes and chaplaincy together with those for Stanton to St Mary’s Abbey, Winchcombe which had been founded in approximately 798 AD Following the Norman invasion of England, the whole land was claimed by William the Conqueror who granted lands to his followers, including the abbey at Winchcombe which still had control of Snowshill and Stanton. The Domesday entry for Snowshill states: “The church of St. Mary of Wincelcumbe holds Snawesill, in Holfordes hundred. There are seven hides taxed. In demean are three plowtillages, and twelve villeins, and two bordars, with fixed plow-tillages. There are six servi. It is worth and was worth 100 sol”. Carolyn Mason in her book Snowshill; A Gloucestershire Village says this equates to the manor having 840 acres and the population of the village being about 802 . Rudder, in his book A New History of Gloucestershire says that Winchcombe Abbey assigned the manor of Snowshill to the monastery of St Ebrulf in Normandy in the twelfth year of Edward II’s reign (1296) but that the manor returned to the abbey in 1415 when foreign onasteries were divested of their land in England. Snowshill remained in the ownership of the abbey until the Dissolution when it became the property of Henry VIII. Rudder says that Henry assigned the manor of Snowshill to Queen Catherine as part of her dower. This is confusing as three of his six wives were called Catherine. It seems likely that it was Catherine Parr as following the death of Catherine Edward VI granted it to John, Earl of Warwick. Catherine Parr was the only one alive in 1547 when Edward became king. Following the execution of the Earl of Warwick in the reign of Queen Mary the manor of Snowshill reverted to the possession of the Crown until it was given to Francis Bulstrode according to Carolyn Mason although Rudder makes no mention of this. At the time of Rudder’s history the population of Snowshill was 236 (more than today) and he states that at the beginning of the 18th century the population was about 190 and that there were 38 houses. The chapel is described as small with a tower at the west end ornamented with pinnacles and battlements. The chapel, together with the manor of Stanton was granted by the Crown to John Elliott. When the lands around Snowshill were enclosed in 1761 by Act of Parliament 202 acres were given to the rector to replace the tithes. The English Heritage register entry for the gardens of Snowshill Manor states that it was sold in 1572 to John and Thomas Warne (or Warren)
and that it remained in that family until around 1645 when it was sold to Will Wall. Between 1712 and 1743, the Manor was owned by the Sanbach family (Carolyn Mason and Rudder give the family name as Sambach) and, during that time, there were some additions to the house. William Sambach the younger died without issue in 1759 and Samuel Blackwell purchased the estate. He sold to John Small of Clapham in Surrey (d 1779). From 1759 to 1919 the Manor was owned by landlords who were largely absent. In the 17th century the manor and some of the cottages were built. The Rose cottage and The Old Shop, Manor Cottages and Green Close, all date to this time. The brewhouse and dovecote within the grounds of the manor are possible earlier from the 16th century. Part of Tower Close dates to the early 18th century and the two garden houses within the manor grounds are late 18th century. The chapel was rebuilt in 1864 but very little of it survives in the new church.
One giant family of baby orb spiders. In all, there were over 100 baby spiders. Pulaski County Missouri.
NEPAL, Royal Chitwan-Nationalpark.
Der Chitwan-Nationalpark ist ein Nationalpark in Nepal, der 1973 als erster Nationalpark des Landes unter dem Namen Royal Chitwan National Park gegründet wurde.
Er nimmt eine Fläche von 932 km² ein und liegt im Terai, den südlichen Vorbergen des Himalaya. Die südliche Grenze des Nationalparks ist zugleich die Landesgrenze zu Indien. Im Osten schließt sich das Parsa Wildlife Reserve an. Im Norden bildet der Fluss Rapti und im Westen der Fluss Narayani eine natürliche Begrenzung zu besiedelten Gebieten. Zusammen mit dem Parsa Wildlife Reserve und dem in Indien gelegenen Valmiki National Park bildet das Gebiet die über 2000 km² große Tiger Conservation Unit (TCU) Chitwan.
Chitwan National Park The first national park in Nepal. It was established in 1973 and granted the status of a World Heritage Site in 1984. It covers an area of 932 km2 (360 sq mi) and is located in the subtropical Inner Terai lowlands of south-central Nepal in the districts of Nawalparasi, Parsa, Chitwan and Makwanpur. In altitude it ranges from about 100 m (330 ft) in the river valleys to 815 m (2,674 ft) in the Churia Hills.[1]
In the north and west of the protected area the Narayani-Rapti river system forms a natural boundary to human settlements. Adjacent to the east of Chitwan National Park is Parsa Wildlife Reserve, contiguous in the south is the Indian Tiger Reserve Valmiki National Park. The coherent protected area of 2,075 km2 (801 sq mi) represents the Tiger Conservation Unit (TCU) Chitwan-Parsa-Valmiki, which covers a 3,549 km2 (1,370 sq mi) huge block of alluvial grasslands and subtropical moist deciduous forests.
The first law of thermodynamics encompasses several principles, one being that energy can be neither created nor destroyed. However, according to the Law energy can change forms, and energy can flow from one place to another, but still, the total energy of an isolated system remains the same.
It's very important that now, maybe more than ever, that we conserve energy. Please have a lovely weekend.
Our third major leopard encounter was with a lovely female African leopard Panthera pardus pardus). It was nearly 7pm and the light was beginning to fade, but she was still clearly visible lying on a branch. After a while she sat up and looked out beyond our vehicles. I think dinner was on her mind. She must have seen something because she suddenly bounded down the tree to the ground, walked a bit through the grass, and then disappeared.
Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, Africa.
Conservation status: Vulnerable
The snow starts to fly as a thoroughbred and two elk trot across the St. Joseph River at Conservation Park in Three Rivers, MI during the opening stages of a winter storm, leading the days #302 road freight and its 54-car consist. This weekday train peddles tonnage south early in the morning out of Kalamazoo down to the interchange point with Norfolk Southern at their large hump yard in Elkhart, IN. The Grand Elk (GDLK), part of Watco's large family of shortline railroads, began operations March of 2009 and runs on 123 miles of track leased from the NS running between Grand Rapids, MI, south to Kalamazoo and on toward Elkhart. This portion was originally a branch line operated by the long defunct Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway. Three Rivers derives its name from the city's location at the confluence of the above mentioned St. Joseph River and two tributaries, the Portage and Rocky Rivers