Secrets of the Seashore

From dramatic, wave-battered rocky shores to gently flowing brackish creeks and lagoons, Britain’s coastline provides over 5000 miles of varied habitats for a huge assemblage of animal and plant life, as well as an unrivalled hunting ground for the naturalist. And, whatever the interest of the naturalist, it seems the seashore can cater for it birds, mammals, fishes and a myriad of worms, shellfish and other invertebrates all find rich pickings on the seashore. 

Geological upheavals in the past have determined the overall nature of our coastline, but the sea is a constantly modifying agent, and by a relentless programme of erosion on the one hand and deposition on the other, we’re witnessing long term re-shaping by the action of water. Nevertheless, whatever the forces of nature, animals and plants seem infinitely adaptable, and there is scarcely and outcrop of rock or a patch of shifting shingle that is not inhabited. 

Unlike several other habitats, the seashore supports a constant community of plants and animals which are always on view. There is some seasonal variation but overall the seasons are of less significance than the tides. At times of low tide the naturalist can pick among the seaweeds and rock crevices for molluscs worms echinoderms and other small animals, or wait quietly by rock pools for the inhabitants to show themselves. The cliffs are often rich in wild flowers, and provide superb vantage points from which to watch seabirds such as gulls and fulmars wheeling and soaring on the thermals. Estuaries, too can provide many hours of rewarding investigation, especially even the tide is out and the wading birds flock into feed. 

The Evolution of Butterflies

The story of butterfly evolution is incomplete; butterflies are inherently so delicate that their remains are very rarely preserved there’re therefore several gaps in our knowledge. Insects first made an appearance about 400 million years ago, having evolved from the same ancestral line as the spiders and centipedes. This was back in the Devonian period, in the Paleozoic era. Winged insects made an appearance soon after; somewhere around 50 million years later; during the Carboniferous period. Moths evolved before butterflies, but it is actually very difficult to say when. This is because they developed out of caddis-flies (Order Trichoptera), and there’s no single stage where they stopped being cadis-flies, and started being moths. Butterflies evolved about 40 million years later; during the Cretaceous period.

Finding a fossil butterfly is a very rare even less than 50 have been found to date, including those preserved in amber. The best fossil butterflies have been found at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in central Colorado, which is world renowned for the quality of its fossils. The beds there produce fossils that are in the order of 35 million years old. The oldest conclusive lepidopteran fossil found, however was in England at Charmouth. This was a moth called Archaeolepis mane, and is from the lower Jurassic, which makes it about 185 million years old.

The evolution of butterflies was directly linked to that of flowering plants. This is because of mutual interdependence; the butterflies need the flowers to feed on, and the plants need the butterflies to act as pollinators. This is achieved when butterflies travel between flowers to feed. As they do so, they also transfer pollen; this is sometimes so specific that only one species of plant can feed the butterfly, and conversely the butterfly may be the only species that can pollinate the plant. The consequence of this is that if one becomes extinct, so does the other. 

Planning and Planting a Herb Garden

Every good garden design book advises would be designer gardener to first take your squared paper and in fact, it is a good idea to draw the plan to scale. The size of the beds is much more easily appreciated, the spaces between them can be better compared to the dimensions of the beds, and the proportions of the various plants can be correctly assessed, so that mistakes in juxtaposition can be adjusted. Better still, if you’re anything of an artist, is then to transpose your scale plant to ta three-dimensional drawing, preferably colored, showing it as it will be in three or four years, time when the perennial plants are mature. 

Steps in Designing 

·        1. Assess your soil:

Is it well-drained (sandy, shingly, gravelly, and chalky?

Does it hold water and feel sticky when sticky when wet, cracking badly when dry (predominantly clay or silt?

Is it dark-colored, spongy when wet and dusty when dry (Peat)?

How does it react to a pH test (acid or alkaline)?

Does it contain organic matter (material floating on the surface of a solution of Soil?

·        2. Assess Your Site

Which parts are sunny-shady?

Does it get wind, if so, where from (north, South, east or west)?

Is it likely to retain frost and collect snow in winter?

Is it sheltered by walls/fences/hedges?

Is the garden close to the sea?

What is average winter and summer rainfall?

Where does the water lie the longs?

·        3. In the light of answers to these questions, select your herbs. Whatever choice of herb you settle on, before you start to mark the places for them on your paper plan, make sure you know what their final size will be when they are mature. The adult height and width are important facts armed with which you can plant without crowding or spacing; if the soil is a well worked heavy one, allow for extra growth. The converse is seldom true, since several herbs grow naturally in poor dry soils.

·        4. Make a rough diagram of your design and determine whether it is appropriate to the size of the site, e.g. a herb border on the grand scale will not be successful in an area 3 x 3 (10 x 10ft); in other words the proportions of the design should be such that theirs is room to make the most of them in the area concerned.

·        5. Select your plants according to your needs and the dictates of the soil and site as determined from your assessment. 

·       

6. Enter their name on the diagram in your preferred arrangement, taking into account height as well as spread, whether they’re evergreen, perennial, annual, flowering or non-flowering. At this stage it can help to trace the design on the site in outline with the help of chalk rope, string, or the garden hose, and to use canes stuck in the soil to give an indication of the final height of plants.

·        7. Measure the area exactly and scale it down for transfer to squared paper a large scale would be 1.2 cm (1/2 in) per 30 cm (12 in), but if you want to mark in all the plants in all the beds, it’d have to be of the order of 5 cm/30cm (2 in/12 in).

·        8. Mark in the beds and borders on it to the dimensions required, in the required positions. 

·        9. Write in the names of the plants where they fit in to the pattern and draw a circle round them to indicate the extent of their final spread. 

·        10. Decide on the numbers of plants and the seeds required and order accordingly, unless you’re planning to plant up from different sources. The diagram above is an herb garden containing a collection of herbs grown in Britain and on the continent in mediaeval times; they’ve a variety of uses, and some of them fulfill several functions. 

Notes:

The tall plants have been put at the back of the beds or in the center plants which are low-growing have been put near the edges, and naturally dwarf shrubs have been used for the edging, which gives the beds the necessary precision and unites the pattern. The pattern is further emphasized by repetition of plantings.    Herbs with evergreen leaves continue to provide a structural pattern in winter and cover the ground to some extent, though in a herb garden it is never possible to have a permanent blanket of vegetation if you wish to grow the annual herbs such as summer savory, coriander or sweet marjoram. Sun loving herbs are placed in   the center aromatic plants are distributed throughout the pattern to provide aromas and fragrances. A good deal of use is made of leaf quality, though with showy flowers e.g. tansy, marigold, feverfew, chives, rue, borage, clary and mustard. Herbs which need cooler soil, depth and permanent moisture should be planted in a position likely to provide this, so a site near the boundary to the south provides shade and is less likely to dry out. The mint should have a place where it can be easily chopped out before it runs amok amongst its neighbor’s. Feverfew will seed itself enthusiastically, so it will borage, and parsley, where it is happy. 

Herbs grown by division

Balm, Lemon, Bergamot, Burnet, Salad, Catmint, Chamomile, Comfrey, Costmary, Fennel, Feverfew, Madder, Marshmallow, Nettle, (Runners), Orris Root, Pennyroyal, Pink, Sorrel, Tansy, Tarragon, Thyme, Valerian, Vervain, Yarrow, 

Mount Bromo, is an active volcano and part of the Tengger massif, in East Java, Indonesia. At 2,329 metres it is not the highest peak of the massif, but is the most well known.

Mount Bromo, is an active volcano and part of the Tengger massif, in East Java, Indonesia. At 2,329 metres it is not the highest peak of the massif, but is the most well known.

Yellow-Bibbled Lory; A Beautiful Parrot Endemic to the Solomon Islands

The yellow-bibbed lory (Lorius chlorocercus) is a monotypic species of parrot in the Psittaculidae family. This beautiful parrot is endemic to the Solomon Islands. The yellow-bibbed lory is about 11 in, (28 cm) long. It is mostly red with black on top of head and green wings. It has a yellow transverse band on upper chest and a crescent-shaped black patch on each side of neck. It has vibrant blue-green thighs and dark-grey legs. It has an orange-red beak, dark-grey eyerings, and orange irises. Under its wings the bird has blue feathers. Currently there’re only two breeding pairs in the United States. However, they are very sweet, kind birds, and as they’re a type of parrot, they’ve a relatively large vocabulary for an animal. 

The striking Yellow-bibbed Lory natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. The parrot calls are described as shrieking and harsh, while feeding emits soft chattering. The bird is aptitude is Harder to breed than some other lorikeets, can be good as a pet depending on the bird. The bird likes to eat pollen, nectar, fruits, small seeds and caterpillars, apples, pears, grapes, tangelos, kiwifruit, sultanas, banana, watermelon (no avocado), fresh veggies (frozen bags of mixed veggies and frozen corn are ideal recorded. Numerous bird species in the Solomon Islands are vulnerable just due to their small natural ranges and forest clearing for agriculture is an ongoing threat. 

The bird is listed on CITES II and is well considered a Birdlife International "restricted-range" species, which means that, while the species is abundant in numbers, the range of the species is very limited and could be simply threatened. The Yellow-bibbed Lory is a gorgeously bright-red parrot with a black forehead and yellow band on the chest. These Lories can be found in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands where they live in tropical lowland forests. Yellow bibs can make good pets. Cheeky, intelligent, loving and playful it’s like having four seasons in one day having a bib as a pet.

Yellow bibs are habitually very active you’d quite easily be able to notice if something was wrong.  If there’re general level of hygiene is maintained with feeders, cages and aviaries normally you will encounter very few problems. Worm your lorry on a regular basis every 6 months. This is for pets and aviary birds. It’d be highly suggest yellow bibs would be more of a bird to try to keep if you are a bird keeper with some experience in keeping Lories or lorikeets in the past. If you’re a first timer think about it and get some advice first!