Springwatch! UK

Photo by Ernie Janes  (rspb-images.com)

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco), two young birds in a field of bluebells.

The short-haired Bumblebee !

Photo by James K. Lindsey

A bumblebee which vanished from the English countryside almost a quarter of a century ago has been reintroduced.

Around 100 short-haired bumblebees (Bombus subterraneus) were brought across from Sweden to repopulate areas where it previously thrived in the UK, and around 50 of the healthiest were released at the RSPB's Dungeness reserve in Kent. 
The conservation project to bring back the bee has involved the creation of flower-rich meadows and field margins in the landscape, which have boosted populations of other threatened bumblebees.

Although it vanished from this country, small populations have clung on in the South Island of New Zealand after being transported there on the first refrigerated lamb boats in the late 19th century to pollinate crops of red clover.

Native Bluebells in the UK

Artist: Christina Hart-Davies
Native bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)  have narrow leaves, usually about 10mm or 15mm wide,

• have deep blue (sometimes white, rarely pink), narrow, tube-like flowers, with the very tips curled right back. 
• have flowers mostly on one side of the stem only, and distinctly drooping, or nodding, at the top
• have a distinct, sweetish scent
• Inside the flowers, the anthers with the pollen are usually cream.

Britain is home to up to half the worlds total population and so we have to protect this charismatic plant.

De La Warr Pavillion – Bexhill East Sussex 20-05-12

Art on the pebble beach



Artist Cerith Wyn Evans – Light/heat filament columns
De La Warr  Gallery 2

Nature’s World – Middlesbrough 16-05-12

Sheila’s Bramley Apple tree

Tenacity of nature – sculpture by Brian Russell

Apple blossoms on dwarf stock

Cowslips still beautiful – I say, though out of focus!

Moorhen eggs!

Quince blooms, magnificent tree

Plant absorption of CO 2

After Henri Rousseau

Late primroses




Hawthorn in bloom now from Teesside to East Sussex!

May Day! 2012

Photo by Kostas Tsironis
A protester during a May Day demonstration in central Athens, Greece
May Day has moved beyond its roots as an international workers' holiday to a day of international protest, with rallies throughout Asia demanding wage increases and marches  across Europe and Britain over government-imposed austerity measures.