via Prehistoric pointillism: Long before Seurat, ancient artists chiseled mammoths out of dots click on this link to see the rest of this fascinating post.
Monthly Archives: February 2017
Cuisine in the Roman World.( An update )
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Seeing that I have blogged about Food in the Roman period before, I will treat this post as an update, and hope you will enjoy the recipe given by Stephanie Hoss as she explores how a Mediterranean passion for the delicacy of Asparagus developed in the northern provinces.
The Romans are renowned for having been gourmets ,but their services to horticulture are less widely celebrated. Their talent for farming successfully generated many new fruit and vegetable cultivars, which were developed using selective breeding. While maps of the Roman Empire are often seen as marking territory subject to its laws and, in some cases, occupied by soldiers, the green fingered imperialists also introduced a wealth of different fruit, vegetables and herbs to their provinces north of the Alps.The list is long and includes such supposedly quintessential English herbs as mint, as well as cherries and peaches. Among the vegetables, though, asparagus…
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On the Wild Side.
Ben Waddams writes in ” The Journal ” about wildlife around Shropshire and the Welsh borders. This post is about the wildfowl during the winter months.
Winter can be the most beautiful time of the year in these areas but difficult for wildlife, whether it is very cold or very mild. But generally speaking what can one see and do during the winter months that perhaps you can’t at other times of the year.?
Well with a county blessed by some fine watercourses, January is a great month for ducks,geese and swans Wildfowl are both numerous and the drakes are in their brightest and best plumage of the year.. Huge flocks of migratory geese are a common sight in some coastal areas but there are treats to savour inland too. Whooper swans are regularly seen at places such as Venus Pool now and an early start can be both exciting and beautiful to behold.
For some of our less common ducks, including, pintail, goldeneye,, long-tailed duck, red-breasted merganser and goosander, the Severn and the meres as well as other ponds and lakes can be a magnet for few individuals. When snow falls it provides a wonderful opportunity to study animal tracks, frost can also turn up a few pretty prints. It may not be the most welcome substance, but mud is easy to come by at this time of the year, and badger, deer fox and even otter evidence can be observed, or even better, plaster casted. Rooks, jackdaws, carrion crow and ravens gather at communal roosts. Their aerial acrobats at dusk may not be on the same scale as a starling murmuration but can be almost as spectacular.
Courtesy Ben Waddams.
Badger.
Pintail Duck
Golden eye Duck.
Red Breasted Merganser.
Whopper Swan
Young Deer.
Beautiful Fox.
Spotted Woodpecker.
Great- spotted woodpeckers begin drumming on dead wood as part of their territorial display. A morning walk through a quiet oak woodland is almost guaranteed to produce a sighting or hearing. Another famouse bird to start its courtship in winter is the tawny owl. These fabulous birds of prey are at their noisiest from December and can be tracked down on a moonlit night by listening for their various calls.
To attract the aforementioned species to your garden, why not make your own bird feeder or buy one. Either way feeding garden birds at this time of year can make a real difference to their survival. Most garden birds are insectivores but, for obvious reasons , have to switch their diet in the winter. Having seeds and nuts readily available for them in your garden is a great help.
Tawny Owl. Courtesy of the RSPB.
English Professor Reveals The Possible Location Of King Arthur’s Camelot
English Professor Reveals The Possible Location Of King Arthur’s Camelot King Arthur and his famed stronghold of Camelot – both of these entities tread the fine line between legend and actual…
Source: English Professor Reveals The Possible Location Of King Arthur’s Camelot
Ancient jars found in Judea reveal Earth’s magnetic field is fluctuating not diminishing
This is an unusual post for me but most interesting.
Footprints in Time
Thousands of years ago, our ancestors went for a walk and left their footprints behind…… In South Wales there are many seaside sites where both footprints and plant remains have been pr…
Source: Footprints in Time
An interesting post for those who would like to take part.
Archaeology and Science annual: the Decipherment of Supersyllabograms in Linear B, the last & most formidable frontier in the decipherment of Mycenaean Linear B
Archaeology and Science annual: the Decipherment of Supersyllabograms in Linear B, the last & most formidable frontier in the decipherment of Mycenaean Linear B: For the past 65 years since Mic…
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