Category: Geography & Environment

Planet Earth’s climate changeability has seen at least five Ice Ages come and go up to now, but in the current interval the UK’s springtime can be summed up in the old saying:

March winds and April showers,
Bring forth May flowers.

Andrew Lang included this in his 1897 collection of folk tales and rhymes entitled ‘The Nursery Rhyme Book’ and the weather conditions it describes are as true today as they were then.

They can be explained scientifically when one considers the seasonal movements of the jet streams and the gulf streams, along with the increasing hours of sunshine during springtime. The clash of air rising from warmer land with that from the cold seas causes windy weather in March, especially in the west, and rain showers quickly followed by outbreaks of sun in April.

The UK’s position off the north-west of the European continent subjects it to a whole variety of weather phenomena. Snow is not unknown in springtime, but usually there are cold, not quite freezing nights, with warm days. After this, in May the plants are ready to display their beautiful flowers.

(Image: Kenneth Mallard at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Pigeons seem to gravitate towards humans and are quite tame. Their natural habitats are cliffs and coastal areas, but they are equally happy in crowded cities. Trafalgar Square in London used to be famous for its flocks of pigeons, encouraged by people feeding them corn and seed from the sellers who had their pitches there.

In 2000, London’s Mayor decided to rid the Square of its iconic feathered friends and today there are hawks ensuring that it remains pigeon-free. This is sorry thanks for the debt we owe to the hundreds of thousands of pigeons that were used in the two World Wars to carry vital notes between commanders, saving many human lives.

Pigeon racing is dependent on this same homing instinct and it became a very popular sport in the 1900s. At its peak in around 1960, there were 170,000 pigeon fanciers in the UK.

The bird’s attractive plumage and direct gaze charm many people into putting out seed for them on a regular basis. However, this can lead to increasing numbers, so the best advice is to leave out a few handfuls no more than once every three days and in different places around the garden.

(Top image: Martin Vorel at libreshot.com)

Thousands of years ago, the Scilly Isles were one land mass and ancient remains, including castle ruins, can be seen there. After a flood, it became the archipelago we see today. Five of the isles are currently inhabited ~ St. Mary’s (the biggest), Tresco, St. Martin’s, St. Agnes and Bryher. There are twenty-seven uninhabited isles and more than one hundred uninhabitable tips of granite rock.

One of these, Bishop Rock, hosts the UK’s south-westernmost lighthouse. Its construction in 1858 was an amazing feat but unfortunately much too late for the biggest loss of life for the English fleet in one incident, in 1707. Up to two thousand sailors drowned after their ships hit the rocks west of St. Agnes. Today, the lighthouse runs by remote control but there is a helipad on the top.

Visitors to the Scilly Isles arrive by air or on the Scillonian ferry from mainland Cornwall almost thirty miles away. They are unable to take their cars, as the isles are too small. Instead, there are plenty of electric buggies, bicycles, ponies, a few taxis and a local minibus, but as the perimeter of St. Mary’s is only about twelve miles, Shanks’s pony is a good option.

(Image of Puffin Island, Isles of Scilly: John Rostron at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Lake District is in Cumbria and is a World Heritage Site. It is the second largest national park in the UK at 885 sq. miles and its many mountains, dales, lakes and reservoirs attract fifteen million tourists every year. The landscape, formed by glaciers in the last Ice Age, inspires artists, poets, writers and photographers.

It was the poet William Wordsworth’s ‘Guide to the District of the Lakes’ of 1810 which first caught the attention of the public and a programme of railway and road building followed. It has also been an area of valuable mining industries. Slate, copper, gypsum, iron-ore, graphite and coal have all been extracted.

Although it is called the ‘Lake District’ (or ‘Lakeland’), only one of its bodies of water has the word ‘Lake’ in its name ~ that being Bassenthwaite Lake. A few are called ‘-mere’ (Old English for ‘lake’), such as the largest lake of the District, Windermere. Many are called ‘-water’ and others ‘tarn’ (Old Norse for ‘small lake’).

(Image: Kate Jewell at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

The little robin is the national bird of the UK and has won this status for being an easily-recognisable, tame, cheery companion to British gardeners all round the country. It is very common to find a robin perched nearby when digging and turning the soil.

The ‘robin redbreast’ is so called for obvious reasons, with male and female adults looking very similar to each other. Robins eat insects mainly, but will not turn down a few cake crumbs or sunflower hearts. They may even eat these from your hand. Robins tend to hide away in the summer but are otherwise seen in all seasons, although a few do migrate to Spain or Portugal in winter, just like their human compatriots.

(Top image: Alan Cruickshank at Flickr.com / CC BY-ND 2.0)

There are almost 150 airports in the UK, of which 60 accommodate scheduled passenger airlines. The world’s oldest commercial airfield is at Brighton City Airport, which opened as ‘Shoreham Airfield‘ in 1910.

Of course, one of the world’s busiest airports is Heathrow in west London, which opened in 1946 as ‘London Airport’. In 2017, a total of 78 million passengers used its services, flying to and from 85 different countries.

Two more UK airports to change their names have been the Liverpool John Lennon Airport, which was re-branded in 2001 in honour of the Beatle who was murdered in New York in 1980; and the George Best Belfast City Airport, re-named in 2006 after the death in 2005 of Northern Ireland’s legendary footballer.

(Image: Tony Hisgett at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

There are two types of seal found close to the British coastlines ~ the grey seal (or horsehead seal) and the harbour seal (or common seal). Both are found in the cold waters around Scotland and the east of England, and the smaller harbour seal is also found off west Wales and Cornwall.

They come ashore to rest on the beach and bask, and to give birth, but spend most of their time swimming in the sea, catching any type of fish that comes their way. They can submerge for up to half an hour.

They are protected by the Conservation of Seals Act 1970, so cannot be hunted in Britain. However, fish farmers may apply for a licence which allows them to shoot any seals that threaten their stocks. Nevertheless, any kind of culling is opposed by animal welfare groups and sealskin jackets, boots and other products have long since disappeared from UK shops.

(Image: Hugh Venables at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England, was designated as a ‘New Town’ in 1967. Among the projects that this inspired was the 1978 open-air sculpture by Canadian Liz Leyh of six concrete cows, half the size of real ones. The three adults and three calves are hollow inside and have been vandalised by pranksters in various ways over the years, such as re-painting, beheading, the addition of extra parts and actual bodily theft.

The original cows are now in the Milton Keynes Museum. A replica set of five cows was built as a more long-term feature, as it was realised that they had become a famous landmark. These stand near to the A422 road.

(Image: G Laird at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)