Archive for May, 2013
3 A4s on display at National Railway Museum
Fishbourne Roman Palace (5)
Posted: May 30, 2013 in History, Roman HistoryTags: Fishbourne Palace, Roman history
Some other items of interest from Fishbourne Roman Palace
Painted wall Plaster
Hypocaust underfloor heating
Hypocaust underfloor heating
Oven for cooking Food
Naturelog: Tuesday 28th May
Posted: May 29, 2013 in Birds, Natural HistoryTags: Birds, Naturelog, Tarn
A horrible start to the day as torrential rain fell in London. Despite this there was a lot of activity in the Garden. A group of Common swifts remain in the area – I wonder if they will stay in the area and nest this year. The highlight of the day occurred at 1725 as looking out of my study window I saw a large bird approaching from the north. As it drew closer I could see it was a Common Buzzard, a first ever sighting for the patch. The Bird continued to fly South over the garden and over the Tarn.
Photo by Paul (http://www.flickr.com/photos/penguinbush/)
Common Buzzard [sp] (Buteo buteo)
European Herring Gull [sp] (Larus argentatus)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri)
Common Swift [sp] (Apus apus)
Eurasian Jay [sp] (Garrulus glandarius)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Long-tailed Tit [sp] (Aegithalos caudatus)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)
Today’s pictures are of the dumbbell nebula (M27/NGC6853). It is a planetary nebula found in the constellation Velpecula. Like most nebula it consists of dust and gas surrounding a central core. In the case of the dumbbell nebula there is a central star, a white dwarf -the largest known of its kind. The nebula was first described by Charles Messier in 1764. It is 1200 to 1400 light years from Earth, but its brightness it means it is easily visible with binoculars or a small telescope.
Taken with Bradford robotic telescope
Planetary nebulae are formed in the dying stages of a star when the core fusion reactions decline to the extent that the star’s structure cannot be supported – gravity forces the outer part of the star to collapse inwards, causing the inner part to condense and heat up. The intense build up of pressure and radiation causes the outer shell to ‘explode’ and be driven away. The intense stellar wind causes the surrounding gases to ionize in bright colours. (Taken from astrocruise.com)
Naturelog: Saturday 25th / Sunday 26th May
Posted: May 28, 2013 in Birds, Natural HistoryTags: Birds, Naturelog
At home over the weekend which gave me the opportunity to watch the garden and check on its resident species. The highlight was the appearance on Saturday afternoon of a party of eight Common Swift which appeared over the garden for about 20 minutes. This was the first time that we had seen them on the patch this year.
photo by Chris Moody (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zpyder/)
photo by Stefan Berndtsson (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbern/with/8528914788/)
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Common Pigeon [sp] (Columba livia)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri)
Common Swift [sp] (Apus apus) 25/05/2013
Eurasian Jay [sp] (Garrulus glandarius)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)
Malachite Butterfly
Posted: May 28, 2013 in Butterflies and Moths, Natural HistoryTags: Butterflies, nature
The malachite is one of the commonest butterfly species in South America with a range spreading from Brasil to the South of the USA. It gets its name from the Malchite green colouring on its wings.
Now you see it, Now its gone!
Posted: May 26, 2013 in Birds, Natural HistoryTags: Birds, Little Grebe
Pictures of Little Grebe taken at Rye Meads RSPB reserve
A ‘virtual’ tour of GWR works Swindon (3)
Posted: May 25, 2013 in History, TrainsTags: History, Steam Trains
Today we visit the carriage shop, the boiler shop and the erecting shop
The Carriage shop was where all the wooden bodies for the carriages were made[/caption]
The boiler shop was where the boiler units for the locomotives were assembled
The erecting shop was all the parts came together to form the finished locomotive
Monitor 33
Posted: May 24, 2013 in History, Post medieval historyTags: History, Portsmouth, Warships
Monitor 33 is a First World War gunship, built to bombard coastal positions from the sea. She is one of the few such vessels surviving. One interesting aspect is her camouflage, which is not designed to render her ‘invisible’ but specifically to confuse the range finding systems of the day so that land and sea-based artillery would find it difficult to fix her and accurately direct directly there gunfire.
Monitor 33 is currently on display at the Portsmouth historic dockyard
