1.
Ordnance Survey National Grid
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The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude. It is often called British National Grid, the Ordnance Survey devised the national grid reference system, and it is heavily used in their survey data, and in maps based on those surveys. Grid references are commonly quoted in other publications and data sources. The Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system is used to provide references for worldwide locations. European-wide agencies also use UTM when mapping locations, or may use the Military Grid Reference System system, the grid is based on the OSGB36 datum, and was introduced after the retriangulation of 1936–1962. It replaced the previously used Cassini Grid which, up to the end of World War Two, had issued only to the military. The Airy ellipsoid is a regional best fit for Britain, more modern mapping tends to use the GRS80 ellipsoid used by the GPS, the British maps adopt a Transverse Mercator projection with an origin at 49° N, 2° W. Over the Airy ellipsoid a straight grid, the National Grid, is placed with a new false origin. This false origin is located south-west of the Isles of Scilly, the distortion created between the OS grid and the projection is countered by a scale factor in the longitude to create two lines of longitude with zero distortion rather than one. Grid north and true north are aligned on the 400 km easting of the grid which is 2° W. 2° 0′ 5″ W. OSGB36 was also used by Admiralty nautical charts until 2000 after which WGS84 has been used, a geodetic transformation between OSGB36 and other terrestrial reference systems can become quite tedious if attempted manually. The most common transformation is called the Helmert datum transformation, which results in a typical 7 m error from true, the definitive transformation from ETRS89 that is published by the OSGB is called the National Grid Transformation OSTN02. This models the detailed distortions in the 1936–1962 retriangulation, and achieves backwards compatibility in grid coordinates to sub-metre accuracy, the difference between the coordinates on different datums varies from place to place. The longitude and latitude positions on OSGB36 are the same as for WGS84 at a point in the Atlantic Ocean well to the west of Great Britain. In Cornwall, the WGS84 longitude lines are about 70 metres east of their OSGB36 equivalents, the smallest datum shift is on the west coast of Scotland and the greatest in Kent. But Great Britain has not shrunk by 100+ metres, a point near Lands End now computes to be 27.6 metres closer to a point near Duncansby Head than it did under OSGB36. For the first letter, the grid is divided into squares of size 500 km by 500 km, there are four of these which contain significant land area within Great Britain, S, T, N and H. The O square contains an area of North Yorkshire, almost all of which lies below mean high tide
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
North Downs
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The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Westerham Heights, at the edge of the North Downs, near Bromley. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs, the North Downs Way National Trail runs along the North Downs from Farnham to Dover. Downs is from Old English dun meaning, amongst other things, the word acquired the sense of elevated rolling grassland around the fourteenth century. These hills are prefixed north to distinguish them from the morphologically similar range of hills - the South Downs - which run parallel to them. The narrow spine of the Hogs Back between Farnham and Guildford forms the western extremity of the North Downs, whilst the cliffs between Folkestone and Deal terminate the ridge in the east, there are two distinct aspects, the steep south-facing escarpment and the gentle north-facing dip slope. The southern boundary is defined by the foot of the escarpment which gives way to the flat, the northern boundary is less apparent but occurs where the chalk submerges below the more recent Paleocene deposits. The Downs are highest near the Kent-Surrey border, often reaching heights in excess of 200 m above sea level at the crest of the escarpment, the highest point is Botley Hill in Surrey at 269 metres. The County top of Kent at Betsoms Hill, with a height of 251 metres is located nearby, east of the Medway Valley the Downs become broader and flatter, extending as far as the Isle of Thanet. The ridge is intersected by the valleys of a series of rivers and these drain much of the Weald to the south, the western ones are tributaries of the Thames, they carve steep valleys through the chalk and provide natural corridor routes. Except for the valleys and wind gaps, the crest of the escarpment is almost continuous along its length. The dip slope is dissected by small dry valleys, and in the broad eastern part in Kent. Leith Hill is sometimes referred to as part of the North Downs but is located on the parallel Greensand Ridge. The Chalk Group, composed almost entirely of chalk, a kind of soft fine-grained limestone. It is formed of three parts, the Upper Chalk, which has many flints, the Middle Chalk, with flints. The chalk is most commonly exposed on slopes or as cliffs, the buried upper surface of the chalk beneath the acidic strata is often eroded into pipes, gulleys and pinnacles, sometimes visible in road cuttings and quarries. The Upper Greensand Formation, a whitish, limy sandstone, often used for building, the Upper Greensand of the North Downs is a thin bed of one or two metres thickness, and it is rarely visible at the surface. The Upper Greensand marks the edge of the Downs, being underlain by
4.
Coast
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A coastline or a seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean, or a line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the Coastline paradox, the term coastal zone is a region where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs. Both the terms coast and coastal are often used to describe a location or region, for example, New Zealands West Coast. Edinburgh for example is a city on the coast of Scotland, a pelagic coast refers to a coast which fronts the open ocean, as opposed to a more sheltered coast in a gulf or bay. A shore, on the hand, can refer to parts of the land which adjoin any large body of water, including oceans. Similarly, the related term refers to the land alongside or sloping down to a river or to a body of water smaller than a lake. Bank is also used in parts of the world to refer to an artificial ridge of earth intended to retain the water of a river or pond. According to the UN atlas, 44% of people live within 150 kilometres of the sea, tides often determine the range over which sediment is deposited or eroded. Areas with high tidal ranges allow waves to reach farther up the shore, the tidal range is influenced by the size and shape of the coastline. Tides do not typically cause erosion by themselves, however, tidal bores can erode as the waves surge up river estuaries from the ocean. Waves erode coastline as they break on shore releasing their energy, the larger the wave the more energy it releases and the more sediment it moves. Coastlines with longer shores have more room for the waves to disperse their energy, while coasts with cliffs and short shore faces give little room for the wave energy to be dispersed. In these areas the wave energy breaking against the cliffs is higher, sediment deposited by waves comes from eroded cliff faces and is moved along the coastline by the waves. This forms an abrasion or cliffed coast, sediment deposited by rivers is the dominant influence on the amount of sediment located on a coastline. Today riverine deposition at the coast is often blocked by dams and other human regulatory devices, like the ocean which shapes them, coasts are a dynamic environment with constant change. The coast and its adjacent areas on and off shore are an important part of a local ecosystem, Salt marshes and beaches also support a diversity of plants, animals and insects crucial to the food chain. The high level of biodiversity creates a level of biological activity. More and more of the people live in coastal regions
5.
Strait of Dover
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Between these points lies the most popular route for cross-channel swimmers. The entire strait is within the waters of France and the United Kingdom. The strait is the busiest international seaway in the world, used by over 400 commercial vessels daily and this has made traffic safety a critical issue, with HM Coastguard and the Maritime Gendarmerie maintaining a 24-hour watch over the strait and enforcing a strict regime of shipping lanes. In addition to the intensive east–west traffic, the strait is crossed north to south by ferries linking Dover to Calais. Until 1994 these provided the route across it for land transport. The Channel Tunnel now provides a route, crossing beneath the strait at an average depth of 45 m below the seabed. The town of Dover gives its name to one of the sea areas of the British Shipping Forecast, the strait is believed to have been created by the erosion of a land bridge that linked the Weald in Great Britain to the Boulonnais in the Pas de Calais. The predominant geology on both the British and French sides and on the seafloor is chalk, although somewhat resistant to erosion, erosion of both coasts has created the famous white cliffs of Dover in the UK and the Cap Blanc Nez in France. The Channel Tunnel was bored through solid chalk, the Rhine flowed northwards into the North Sea as the sea level fell during the start of the first of the Pleistocene Ice Ages. This overflow channel became the Strait of Dover about 425,000 years ago, a narrow deep channel along the middle of the strait was the bed of the Rhine in the last Ice Age. A geological deposit in East Anglia marks the old preglacial northward course of the Rhine, a 2007 study concluded the English Channel was formed by erosion caused by two major floods. The first was about 425,000 years ago, when a lake in the southern North Sea overflowed and broke the Weald-Artois chalk range in a catastrophic erosion. Afterwards, the Thames and Scheldt flowed through the gap into the English Channel, in a second flood about 225,000 years ago the Meuse and Rhine were ice-dammed into a lake that broke catastrophically through a high weak barrier. Both floods cut massive flood channels in the dry bed of the English Channel, the Lobourg strait, a major feature of the straits seafloor, runs its 6 km wide slash on a NNE–SSW axis. The submarine depth of the varies between 68 m at the Lobourg strait and 20 m at the highest banks. It presents a succession of rocky areas relatively deserted by ships wanting to spare their nets, the strong currents of the Channel are slowed down around the rocky areas of the strait, with formation of countercurrents and calmer zones where many species can find shelter. Moreover, this is a zone for the species of the Atlantic Ocean. This mix of various environments promotes a variety of wildlife
6.
Chalk
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Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is a salt called calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the accumulation of minute calcite shells shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores. Flint is very common as bands parallel to the bedding or as embedded in chalk. It is probably derived from sponge spicules or other organisms as water is expelled upwards during compaction. Flint is often deposited around larger fossils such as Echinoidea which may be silicified, Chalk as seen in Cretaceous deposits of Western Europe is unusual among sedimentary limestones in the thickness of the beds. Most cliffs of chalk have very few obvious bedding planes unlike most thick sequences of such as the Carboniferous Limestone or the Jurassic oolitic limestones. This presumably indicates very stable conditions over tens of millions of years, Chalk has greater resistance to weathering and slumping than the clays with which it is usually associated, thus forming tall steep cliffs where chalk ridges meet the sea. Chalk hills, known as chalk downland, usually form where bands of chalk reach the surface at an angle, because chalk is well jointed it can hold a large volume of ground water, providing a natural reservoir that releases water slowly through dry seasons. Chalk is mined from chalk deposits both above ground and underground, Chalk mining boomed during the Industrial Revolution, due to the need for chalk products such as quicklime and bricks. Abandoned chalk mines remain a popular tourist attraction due to their massive expanse, the Chalk Group is a European stratigraphic unit deposited during the late Cretaceous Period. It forms the famous White Cliffs of Dover in Kent, England, the Champagne region of France is mostly underlain by chalk deposits, which contain artificial caves used for wine storage. Some of the highest chalk cliffs in the occur at Jasmund National Park in Germany. Ninety million years ago what is now the chalk downland of Northern Europe was ooze accumulating at the bottom of a great sea. Chalk was one of the earliest rocks made up of particles to be studied under the electron microscope. Their shells were made of calcite extracted from the rich sea-water, as they died, a substantial layer gradually built up over millions of years and, through the weight of overlying sediments, eventually became consolidated into rock. Later earth movements related to the formation of the Alps raised these former sea-floor deposits above sea level, the chemical composition of chalk is calcium carbonate, with minor amounts of silt and clay. It is formed in the sea by plankton, which fall to the sea floor and are then consolidated and compressed during diagenesis into chalk rock
7.
Flint
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Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks, inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white or brown in colour, and often has a glassy or waxy appearance. A thin layer on the outside of the nodules is usually different in colour, typically white, from a petrological point of view, flint refers specifically to the form of chert which occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Similarly, common chert occurs in limestone, the exact mode of formation of flint is not yet clear but it is thought that it occurs as a result of chemical changes in compressed sedimentary rock formations, during the process of diagenesis. One hypothesis is that a gelatinous material fills cavities in the sediment, such as bored by crustaceans or molluscs. This hypothesis certainly explains the shapes of flint nodules that are found. The source of dissolved silica in the media could be the spicules of silicious sponges. Certain types of flint, such as that from the south coast of England, pieces of coral and vegetation have been found preserved like amber inside the flint. Thin slices of the stone often reveal this effect, puzzling giant flint formations known as paramoudra and flint circles are found around Europe but especially in Norfolk, England on the beaches at Beeston Bump and West Runton. Flint sometimes occurs in large flint fields in Jurassic or Cretaceous beds, flint was used in the manufacture of tools during the Stone Age as it splits into thin, sharp splinters called flakes or blades when struck by another hard object. This process is referred to as knapping, flint mining is attested since the Palaeolithic, but became more common since the Neolithic. When struck against steel, a flint edge will produce sparks, the hard flint edge shaves off a particle of the steel that exposes iron which reacts with oxygen from the atmosphere and can ignite the proper tinder. Prior to the availability of steel, rocks of pyrite would be used along with the flint. These methods are popular in woodcraft, bushcraft, and among those who wish to use traditional skills, a later, major use of flint and steel was in the flintlock mechanism, used primarily in flintlock firearms, but also used on dedicated fire-starting tools. The sparks ignite the powder and that flame, in turn, ignites the main charge, propelling the ball, bullet. While the military use of the flintlock declined after the adoption of the cap from the 1840s onward, flintlock rifles. Flint and steel used to strike sparks were superseded by ferrocerium and this man-made material, when scraped with any hard, sharp edge, produces sparks that are much hotter than obtained with natural flint and steel, allowing use of a wider range of tinders. Because it can produce sparks when wet and can start fires when used correctly, ferrocerium is used in many cigarette lighters, where it is referred to as flint
8.
Dover
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Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. The town is the centre of the Dover District and home of the Dover Calais ferry through the Port of Dover. The surrounding chalk cliffs are known as the White Cliffs of Dover and its strategic position has been evident throughout its history, archaeological finds have revealed that the area has always been a focus for peoples entering and leaving Britain. The name of the town derives from the name of the river flows through it. There was a barracks in Dover, which was closed in 2007. Although many of the ferry services have declined, services related to the Port of Dover provide a great deal of the town’s employment. Local residents had clubbed together to propose buying it for the community, first recorded in its Latinised form of Portus Dubris, the name derives from the Brythonic word for waters. The same element is present in the towns French and Modern Welsh forms, subsequent name forms included Doverre, The current name was in use at least by the time of Shakespeares King Lear, in which the town and its cliffs play a prominent role. The sight of the cliffs when approaching Dover may have given the island of Britain its ancient name of Albion. Dover’s history, because of its proximity to France, has always been of strategic importance to Britain. Archaeological finds have shown there were Stone Age people in the area. Some Iron Age finds exist also, but the coming of the Romans made Dover part of their communications network, like Lemanis and Rutupiae Dover was connected by road to Canterbury and Watling Street, and it became Portus Dubris, a fortified port. Forts were built above the port, lighthouses were constructed to guide passing ships, Dover figured largely in the Domesday Book as an important borough. It also served as a bastion against various attackers, notably the French during the Napoleonic Wars and it was one of the Cinque Ports during medieval times. Dover is near the extreme south-east corner of Britain between Deal and Folkestone and this led to the silting up of the river mouth by the action of longshore drift, the town was then forced into making artificial breakwaters to keep the port in being. These breakwaters have been extended and adapted so that the port lies almost entirely on reclaimed land. The higher land on either side of the valley – the Western Heights, the town has gradually extended up the river valley, encompassing several villages in doing so. Little growth is possible along the coast, since the cliffs are on the sea’s edge, the railway, being tunnelled and embanked, skirts the foot of the cliffs
9.
Kent
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Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west, the county also shares borders with Essex via the Dartford Crossing and the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. France can be clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county, because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as The Garden of England. The title was defended in 2006 when a survey of counties by the UKTV Style Gardens channel put Kent in fifth place, behind North Yorkshire, Devon. Haulage, logistics, and tourism are industries, major industries in north-west Kent include aggregate building materials, printing. Coal mining has played its part in Kents industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Downs and The High Weald, the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era, There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley. The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning rim or border and this describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC, the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730, the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital, in 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity, the Diocese of Canterbury became Britains first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained Englands centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral, in the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning undefeated. This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy, the Kent peoples continued resistance against the Normans led to Kents designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of Williams half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales
10.
White Cliffs of Dover
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The White Cliffs of Dover are cliffs that form part of the English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliffs are part of the North Downs formation, the cliff face, which reaches up to 350 feet, owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accentuated by streaks of black flint. The cliffs stretch along the coastline for eight miles, spreading east and west from the town of Dover in the county of Kent, the National Trust calls the cliffs an icon of Britain, with the white chalk face a symbol of home and war time defence. Because crossing at Dover was the route to the continent before the advent of air travel. In World War II, thousands of allied troops on the ships in the Dunkirk evacuation saw the welcoming sight of the cliffs. The cliffs are located along the coastline of England between approximately 51°06′N 1°14′E and 51°12′N 1°24′E, the White Cliffs are at one end of the Kent Downs designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. During the summer of 1940, reporters gathered at Shakespeare Cliff to watch aerial dogfights between German and British aircraft during the Battle of Britain and it marks the point where Great Britain most closely approaches continental Europe. On a clear day, the cliffs are visible from the French coast. In 1999 a sustainable National Trust visitor centre was built in the area, the cliffs themselves were formed at the same time as the Strait of Dover, by ice-age floods. Flint and quartz are found in the chalk. White cliffs like those of Dover are also found on the Danish islands of Møn and Langeland, the chalk cliffs of the Alabaster Coast of Normandy, France, are part of the same geological system as Dovers cliffs. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the cliffs were named as the third greatest natural wonder in Britain, the cliff face continues to weather at an average rate of 1 centimetre per year, although occasionally large pieces will fall. This occurred in 2001, when a chunk of the edge, as large as a football pitch. A further large section collapsed into the Channel on 15 March 2012, visitors are, therefore, urged to remain well away from the cliff edge. Several species of nesting birds nest on the cliff face, including fulmar. However, contrary to the words of the World War II song White Cliffs of Dover, bluebirds are an American species not found in the UK
11.
Site of Special Scientific Interest
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The acronym SSSI is often pronounced triple-S I. Sites notified for their biological interest are known as Biological SSSI/ASSIs, SSSI/ASSIs may be divided into management units, with some areas including units that are noted for both biological and geological interest. Biological SSSI/ASSIs may be selected for reasons, which for Great Britain is governed by published SSSI Selection Guidelines. Within each area, a series of the best examples of each significant natural habitat may be notified. Sites of particular significance for various groups may be selected —each of these groups has its own set of selection guidelines. In Scotland, the authority is Scottish Natural Heritage, the role in Wales is performed by Natural Resources Wales. In the Isle of Man the role is performed by the Department of Environment, Food, Geological SSSI/ASSIs are selected by a different mechanism to biological ones, with a minimalistic system selecting one site for each geological feature in Great Britain. Each of these sites is described, with most published in the Geological Conservation Review series, almost all GCR sites are subsequently notified as geological SSSIs, except some that coincide with designated biological SSSI management units. If the exposure becomes obscured, the feature could in principle be re-exposed elsewhere, Conservation of these sites usually concentrates on maintenance of access for future study. These are features which are limited in extent or physically delicate—for example, they include small lenses of sediment, mine tailings, caves, if such features become damaged they cannot be recreated, and conservation usually involves protecting the feature from erosion or other damage. Following devolution, legal arrangements for SSSIs and ASSIs differ between the countries of the UK, the Isle of Man ASSI system is a separate entity. Scottish Natural Heritage publishes a summary of the SSSI arrangements for SSSI owners and occupiers which can be downloaded from the SNH website, legal documents for all SSSIs in Scotland are available on the SSSI Register, hosted by The Registers of Scotland. Further information about SSSIs in Scotland is available on the SNH website, SSSIs are also covered under the Water Resources Act 1991 and related legislation. An SSSI may be made on any area of land which is considered to be of special interest by virtue of its fauna, flora, SSSI notification can cover any land within the area of the relevant nature conservation body, including dry land, land covered by freshwater. The extent to which an SSSI/ASSI may extend seawards differs between countries, in England, Natural England may notify an SSSI over estuarial waters and further adjacent waters in certain circumstances. Access on to SSSIs is the same as for the rest of the countryside of the relevant country, most SSSIs/ASSIs are in private ownership and form parts of working farms, forests and estates. In Scotland, people may use their rights of access to visit SSSIs. When creating a new SSSI/ASSI the designation hs legal effect from the date of notification. g, in Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage must also notify the relevant community councils and community group having registered an interest in the land. )
12.
Special Area of Conservation
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A Special Area of Conservation is defined in the European Unions Habitats Directive, also known as the Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora. They must be chosen from the Sites of Community Importance by the State Members, sACs complement Special Protection Areas and together form a network of protected sites across the European Union called Natura 2000. This, in turn, is part of the Emerald network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest under the Berne Convention, prior to being designated as a Special Area of Conservation, sites are assessed under a two-stage process set out by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The value of the site is considered in relation to the whole national resource of each habitat type. Firstly, assessment of the importance of sites containing examples of the individual habitat types. This stage is often referred to as moderation. The criteria used in Stage 2 are intended to be used to assess the sites at the level of the nine biogeographical regions and the EU as a whole
13.
Continental Europe
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Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe, or, by Europeans, simply the Continent, is the continuous continent of Europe, excluding surrounding islands. This historical core of Carolingian Europe was consciously invoked in the 1950s as the historical basis for the prospective European integration. In both Great Britain and Ireland, the Continent is widely and generally used to refer to the mainland of Europe, an apocryphal British newspaper headline supposedly once read, Fog in Channel, Continent Cut Off. It has also claimed that this was a regular weather forecast in Britain in the 1930s. In addition, the word Europe itself is regularly used to mean Europe excluding the islands of Great Britain, Iceland. The term mainland Europe is also sometimes used, derivatively, the adjective continental refers to the social practices or fashion of continental Europe. Examples include breakfast, topless sunbathing and, historically, long-range driving often known as Grand Touring. Differences include electrical plugs, time zones for the most part, the use of traffic, and for the United Kingdom, currency. Britain is physically connected to continental Europe through the undersea Channel Tunnel and this route is popular with refugees and migrants seeking to enter the UK. Especially in Germanic studies, continental refers to the European continent excluding the Scandinavian peninsula, Britain, Ireland, and Iceland. The reason for this is that although the Scandinavian peninsula is attached to continental Europe, kontinenten is a vernacular Swedish expression that refers to the area excluding Sweden, Norway, and Finland but including Denmark and the rest of continental Europe. In Norway, similarly, one speaks about Kontinentet as an entity, usually referring to Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Benelux countries. Today, the Scandinavian peninsula is accessible by train and road with several bridge/tunnel structures connecting the Danish peninsula of Jutland to Scania in Sweden. The Continent may sometimes refer to the part of Italy, the continental part of Spain, the continental part of France. The term is used from the perspective of the residents of each country to describe the continental portion of their country or the continent as a whole. Continental philosophy Geopolitical divisions of Europe Geographical midpoint of Europe Mainland Western Europe Hajnal line
14.
Alabaster Coast
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The Côte dAlbâtre is part of the French coast of the English Channel, corresponding to the coastline of Pays de Caux and forming almost all of the coastline of Seine-Maritime. Since 2009 it has classified as a Natura 2000 site. It takes its name from the hue of its high chalk cliffs, including those of Étretat. It is part of the same system as the White Cliffs of Dover on the far side of the English Channel. The Côte runs from the container port of Le Havre to the small fishing village of Le Tréport, taking in the town of Dieppe, as well as Fécamp. Three river valleys punctuate the cliff face, making way for the harbours of Fécamp sheltering on the Valmont river, Dieppe on the Arques, stage 6 of the 2015 Tour de France followed the Côte dAlbâtre for much of its length from Abbeville to Le Havre. Other artists who painted the coastline include Gustave Courbet and Eugène Boudin, the writer Guy de Maupassant grew up on the Côte dAlbâtre at Étretat. His short story The Englishman of Étretat is based on encounters in 1868 with the English poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, whom he had helped save from drowning
15.
Normandy
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Normandy is one of the regions of France, roughly corresponding to the historical Duchy of Normandy. Administratively, Normandy is divided into five departments, Calvados, Eure, Manche, Orne and it covers 30,627 km², forming roughly 5% of the territory of France. Its population of 3.37 million accounts for around 5% of the population of France, Normans is the name given to the inhabitants of Normandy, and the region is the homeland of the Norman language. The historical region of Normandy comprised the region of Normandy, as well as small areas now part of the départements, or departments of Mayenne. For a century and a following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Normandy and England were linked by Norman. Archaeological finds, such as paintings, prove that humans were present in the region in prehistoric times. Celts invaded Normandy in successive waves from the 4th to the 3rd century BC, when Julius Caesar invaded Gaul, there were nine different Celtic tribes living in Normandy. The Romanisation of Normandy was achieved by the methods, Roman roads. Classicists have knowledge of many Gallo-Roman villas in Normandy, in the late 3rd century, barbarian raids devastated Normandy. Coastal settlements were raided by Saxon pirates, Christianity also began to enter the area during this period. In 406, Germanic tribes began invading from the east, while the Saxons subjugated the Norman coast, the Roman Emperor withdrew from most of Normandy. As early as 487, the area between the River Somme and the River Loire came under the control of the Frankish lord Clovis, the Vikings started to raid the Seine Valley during the middle of the 9th century. As early as 841, a Viking fleet appeared at the mouth of the Seine, after attacking and destroying monasteries, including one at Jumièges, they took advantage of the power vacuum created by the disintegration of Charlemagnes empire to take northern France. The fiefdom of Normandy was created for the Norwegian Viking leader Hrólfr Ragnvaldsson, Rollo had besieged Paris but in 911 entered vassalage to the king of the West Franks, Charles the Simple, through the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In exchange for his homage and fealty, Rollo legally gained the territory which he, the name Normandy reflects Rollos Viking origins. The descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local Gallo-Romance language and they became the Normans – a Norman-speaking mixture of Saxons and indigenous Franks and Celts. Besides the Norman conquest of England and the subsequent conquests of Wales and Ireland, Norman families, such as that of Tancred of Hauteville, Rainulf Drengot and Guimond de Moulins played important parts in the Norman conquest of southern Italy and Crusades. They also carved out a place for themselves and their descendants in the Crusader states of Asia Minor, the 14th century Norman explorer Jean de Béthencourt established a kingdom in the Canary Islands
16.
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
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An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside in England, Wales or Northern Ireland which has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of their importance, by the relevant public body, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales. In place of AONB, Scotland uses the similar national scenic area designation and they also differ from national parks in their more limited opportunities for extensive outdoor recreation. To achieve these aims, AONBs rely on planning controls and practical countryside management, as they have the same landscape quality, AONBs may be compared to the national parks of England and Wales. National parks are known to many inhabitants of the UK, by contrast. The idea for what would become the AONB designation was first put forward by John Dower in his 1945 Report to the Government on National Parks in England. Dower suggested there was need for protection of certain naturally beautiful landscapes which were unsuitable as national parks due to their small size and lack of wildness. Dowers recommendation for the designation of these other amenity areas was eventually embodied in the National Parks, there are 46 AONBs in Britain. The first AONB was designated in 1956 in the Gower Peninsula, AONBs vary greatly in terms of size, type and use of land, and whether they are partly or wholly open to the public. The smallest AONB is the Isles of Scilly,16 km2, the AONBs of England and Wales together cover around 18% of the countryside in the two countries. The AONBs of Northern Ireland together cover about 70% of Northern Irelands coastline, AONBs in England and Wales were originally created under the same legislation as the national parks, the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. Unlike AONBs, national parks have special powers to prevent unsympathetic development. Two of the AONBs, which extend into a number of local authority areas, have their own statutory bodies. All English and Welsh AONBs have a dedicated AONB officer and other staff, as required by the CRoW Act, each AONB has a management plan that sets out the characteristics and special qualities of the landscape and how they will be conserved and enhanced. The AONBs are collectively represented by the National Association for AONBs, AONBs in Northern Ireland were designated originally under the Amenity Lands Act 1965, subsequently under the Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands Order 1985. There are growing concerns among environmental and countryside groups that AONB status is increasingly under threat from development, the Campaign to Protect Rural England said in July 2006 that many AONBs were under greater threat than ever before. The subsequent development, known as Falmer Stadium, was opened in July 2011. The Weymouth Relief Road in Dorset was constructed between 2008 and 2011, after environmental groups lost a High Court challenge to prevent its construction, writing in 2006, Professor Adrian Phillips listed threats facing AONBs
17.
Van Heyningen and Haward Architects
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The London architects work primarily in education, and have also worked in the heritage, community and health sectors. In 2010 the practice produced a monograph detailing their work to date, van Heyningen and Haward - Buildings, the book was published by Right Angle Publishing and edited by Ian Latham. As well as giving an overview of the projects undertaken by the practice from inception until publication, it includes essays by Trevor Garnham and contributions by Ken Powell. Featuring, The National Centre for Early Music RIBA Sector Reviews, RIBA - Creating Excellent Buildings - A Guide for Clients, CABE London
18.
Coccoliths
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Coccoliths are individual plates of calcium carbonate formed by coccolithophores which are arranged around them in a coccosphere. Coccoliths are formed within the cell in vesicles derived from the golgi body, when the coccolith is complete these vesicles fuse with the cell wall and the coccolith is exocytosed and incorporated in the coccosphere. The coccoliths are either dispersed following death and breakup of the coccosphere and they sink through the water column to form an important part of the deep-sea sediments. Thomas Huxley was the first person to observe these forms in modern marine sediments, there are two main types of coccoliths, heterococcoliths and holococcoliths. Heterococcoliths are formed of an array of elaborately shaped crystal units. Holococcoliths are formed of minute calcite rhombohedra, arranged in continuous arrays, the two coccolith types were originally thought to be produced by different families of coccolithophores. Now, however, it is known through a mix of observations on field samples and laboratory cultures, heterococcoliths are produced in the diploid life-cycle phase and holococcoliths in the haploid phase. Coccoliths are also classified depending on shape, because coccoliths are formed of low-Mg calcite, the most stable form of calcium carbonate, they are readily fossilised. They are found in sediments together with similar microfossils of uncertain affinities from the Upper Triassic to recent, Coccoliths and related fossils are referred to as calcareous nannofossils or calcareous nannoplankton. The EHUX website - site dedicated to Emiliania huxleyi, containing essays on blooms, coccolith function, international Nannoplankton Association site - includes an illustrated guide to coccolith terminology and several image galleries. Nannotax - illustrated guide to the taxonomy of coccolithophores and other nannofossils, cocco Express - Coccolithophorids Expressed Sequence Tags & Microarray Database Possible functions of Coccoliths
19.
Cretaceous
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The Cretaceous is a geologic period and system that spans 79 million years from the end of the Jurassic Period 145 million years ago to the beginning of the Paleogene Period 66 Mya. It is the last period of the Mesozoic Era, the Cretaceous Period is usually abbreviated K, for its German translation Kreide. The Cretaceous was a period with a warm climate, resulting in high eustatic sea levels that created numerous shallow inland seas. These oceans and seas were populated with now-extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists, during this time, new groups of mammals and birds, as well as flowering plants, appeared. The Cretaceous ended with a mass extinction, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, in which many groups, including non-avian dinosaurs, pterosaurs. The end of the Cretaceous is defined by the abrupt Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, the name Cretaceous was derived from Latin creta, meaning chalk. The Cretaceous is divided into Early and Late Cretaceous epochs, or Lower and Upper Cretaceous series, in older literature the Cretaceous is sometimes divided into three series, Neocomian, Gallic and Senonian. A subdivision in eleven stages, all originating from European stratigraphy, is now used worldwide, in many parts of the world, alternative local subdivisions are still in use. As with other geologic periods, the rock beds of the Cretaceous are well identified. No great extinction or burst of diversity separates the Cretaceous from the Jurassic and this layer has been dated at 66.043 Ma. A140 Ma age for the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary instead of the usually accepted 145 Ma was proposed in 2014 based on a study of Vaca Muerta Formation in Neuquén Basin. Víctor Ramos, one of the authors of the study proposing the 140 Ma boundary age sees the study as a first step toward formally changing the age in the International Union of Geological Sciences, due to the high sea level there was extensive space for such sedimentation. Because of the young age and great thickness of the system. Chalk is a type characteristic for the Cretaceous. It consists of coccoliths, microscopically small calcite skeletons of coccolithophores, the group is found in England, northern France, the low countries, northern Germany, Denmark and in the subsurface of the southern part of the North Sea. Chalk is not easily consolidated and the Chalk Group still consists of sediments in many places. The group also has other limestones and arenites, among the fossils it contains are sea urchins, belemnites, ammonites and sea reptiles such as Mosasaurus. In southern Europe, the Cretaceous is usually a marine system consisting of competent limestone beds or incompetent marls
20.
Cap Gris-Nez
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Cap Gris Nez is a cape on the Côte dOpale in the Pas-de-Calais département in northern France. It is between Wissant and Audresselles, in the commune of Audinghen, the cliffs of the cape are the closest point of France to England –34 km from their English counterparts at Dover. Smothered in sea pinks and thrift, the cliffs are a perfect point to see hundreds of ships, from oil tankers to little fishing trawlers. On a clear day, the white cliffs of Dover on the English shore can be seen. Grisnez means literally grey nose in English and it derives from colloquial Dutch Grizenesse grey cape, officially the Dutch name was Swartenesse black cape to set it apart from the Blankenesse white cape to the north-east. The element -nesse is cognate to English -ness, denoting headland, the cliffs of Cap Gris Nez are made of sandstone, clay and chalk. They are mainly grey which gives the cape its name and it is also a good place to collect fossils, which are mainly from the Jurassic period. One can find bivalves, gastropods and wood, in the sandstone layers with small pebbles, one can find teeth of fish and reptiles. Sometimes larger ammonites are found in the sandstones, the proximity of the cape to England led to the frequent destruction of the nearby village of Audinghen in wars between England and France. On the top of the cliff are the ruins of an English fortress, the English called the fort Blackness, a translation of the Dutch name Swartenisse. Napoleonic Wars Napoleon stopped at the cape on 1 July 1803 whilst making an inspection of the coast around Boulogne-sur-Mer and he then envisioned setting up a cross-Channel optical telegraph, with a semaphore on the cape. The first semaphore of this line was installed on the cape in 1805, on 18 July 1805, a memorable naval battle took place off the cape. A British flotilla with strong numerical superiority pursued Dutch ships that were following the coast, expecting an attack of this type, Napoleon had stationed a battery of 300 guns on the cape, and a barrage from this force obliged the British vessels to withdraw. World War II Commandant Ducuing and his men died on May 25,1940 while defending the semaphore, later, the Germans built a blockhouse inside the Tudor ruins. The locality has a cluster of World War II bunkers, part of the Atlantic Wall intended to rebuff the anticipated allied invasion, there are heavy artillery sites – Batterie Grosser Kurfürst, formerly with three 170 millimetre guns, and Todt Battery, with four 380 mm guns. These covered the approaches to both Calais and Boulogne and they were protected by massive concrete blockhouses and other defensive sites. One of the Todt Battery blockhouses now houses the Atlantic Wall Museum, on the afternoon of 23 December 1940, Adolf Hitler visited the German fortifications at Cap Gris Nez. Units of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division liberated the area in September 1944, post-war The cylindrical concrete lighthouse at Cap Gris Nez dates from 1958
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Alps
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The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc, Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,810 m is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres, the altitude and size of the range affects the climate in Europe, in the mountains precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones. Wildlife such as live in the higher peaks to elevations of 3,400 m. Evidence of human habitation in the Alps goes back to the Palaeolithic era, a mummified man, determined to be 5,000 years old, was discovered on a glacier at the Austrian–Italian border in 1991. By the 6th century BC, the Celtic La Tène culture was well established, Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with a herd of elephants, and the Romans had settlements in the region. In 1800 Napoleon crossed one of the passes with an army of 40,000. The 18th and 19th centuries saw an influx of naturalists, writers, in World War II, Adolf Hitler kept a base of operation in the Bavarian Alps throughout the war. The Alpine region has a cultural identity. The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted in the Swiss, French, at present, the region is home to 14 million people and has 120 million annual visitors. The English word Alps derives from the Latin Alpes, maurus Servius Honoratus, an ancient commentator of Virgil, says in his commentary that all high mountains are called Alpes by Celts. The term may be common to Italo-Celtic, because the Celtic languages have terms for high mountains derived from alp and this may be consistent with the theory that in Greek Alpes is a name of non-Indo-European origin. According to the Old English Dictionary, the Latin Alpes might possibly derive from a pre-Indo-European word *alb hill, Albania, a name not native to the region known as the country of Albania, has been used as a name for a number of mountainous areas across Europe. In Roman times, Albania was a name for the eastern Caucasus, in modern languages the term alp, alm, albe or alpe refers to a grazing pastures in the alpine regions below the glaciers, not the peaks. An alp refers to a mountain pasture where cows are taken to be grazed during the summer months and where hay barns can be found. The Alps are a crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in a 800 km arc from east to west and is 200 km in width, the mean height of the mountain peaks is 2.5 km. The range stretches from the Mediterranean Sea north above the Po basin, extending through France from Grenoble, the range continues onward toward Vienna, Austria, and east to the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. To the south it dips into northern Italy and to the north extends to the border of Bavaria in Germany
22.
Last glacial period
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The last glacial period, popularly known as the Ice Age, was the most recent glacial period, which occurred from c. 110,000 – c. 11,700 years ago. This most recent glacial period is part of a pattern of glacial and interglacial periods known as the Quaternary glaciation. From this point of view, scientists consider this ice age to be merely the latest glaciation event in a larger ice age. During this last glacial period, there were changes between glacier advance and retreat. The Last Glacial Maximum, the extent of glaciation within the last glacial period, was approximately 22,000 years ago. Approximately 13,000 years ago, the Late Glacial Maximum began, around 11,700 years ago marked the beginning of the Holocene geological epoch, which includes the Holocene glacial retreat. From the point of view of archaeology, it falls in the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods. When the glaciation event started, Homo sapiens were confined to Africa and used tools comparable to those used by Neanderthals in western and central Eurasia, near the end of the event, Homo sapiens spread into Eurasia and Australia. The retreat of the glaciers allowed groups of Asians to migrate to the Americas, glacials, on the other hand, refer to colder phases within an ice age that separate interglacials. Thus, the end of the last glacial period is not the end of the last ice age, the end of the last glacial period was about 11,700 years ago, while the end of the last ice age has not yet come. Over the past few years the glacial-interglacial cycle has been paced by periodic variations in the Earths orbit via Milankovitch cycles which are thus the cause of ice ages. The glaciations that occurred during this period covered many areas, mainly in the Northern Hemisphere. The geochronological Late Pleistocene comprises the late glacial and the immediately preceding penultimate interglacial preiond, the last glaciation centered on the huge ice sheets of North America and Eurasia. Considerable areas in the Alps, the Himalaya and the Andes were ice-covered, Canada was nearly completely covered by ice, as well as the northern part of the United States, both blanketed by the huge Laurentide ice sheet. Alaska remained mostly ice free due to climate conditions. Local glaciations existed in the Rocky Mountains and the Cordilleran ice sheet and as ice fields, the maximum extent of western Siberian glaciation was reached by approximately 16, 000–15,000 BCE and thus later than in Europe. Northeastern Siberia was not covered by an ice sheet. Instead, large, but restricted, icefield complexes covered mountain ranges within northeast Siberia, according to the sediment composition retrieved from deep-sea cores there must even have been times of seasonally open waters
23.
Pro-glacial lake
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At the end of the last ice age approximately 10,000 years ago, large proglacial lakes were a widespread feature in the northern hemisphere. In some cases, such lakes gradually evaporated during the period after the Quaternary ice age. Good examples of structures can be found in the Channeled Scablands of eastern Washington. In Great Britain, Lake Lapworth, Lake Harrison and Lake Pickering were examples of proglacial lakes, the receding glaciers of the tropical Andes have formed a number of proglacial lakes, especially in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru, where 70% of all tropical glaciers are. Several such lakes have formed rapidly during the 20th century and these lakes may burst, creating a hazard for zones below. Many natural dams containing the water have been reinforced with safety dams. Some 34 such dams have been built in the Cordillera Blanca to contain proglacial lakes, several proglacial lakes have also formed in recent decades at the end of glaciers on the eastern side of New Zealands Southern Alps. The most accessible, Lake Tasman, hosts boat trips for tourists, list of prehistoric lakes Pluvial lake Proglacial lakes of Minnesota
24.
North Sea
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The North Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and it is more than 970 kilometres long and 580 kilometres wide, with an area of around 570,000 square kilometres. The North Sea has long been the site of important European shipping lanes as well as a major fishery, the North Sea was the centre of the Vikings rise. Subsequently, the Hanseatic League, the Netherlands, and the British each sought to dominate the North Sea and thus the access to the markets, as Germanys only outlet to the ocean, the North Sea continued to be strategically important through both World Wars. The coast of the North Sea presents a diversity of geological and geographical features, in the north, deep fjords and sheer cliffs mark the Norwegian and Scottish coastlines, whereas in the south it consists primarily of sandy beaches and wide mudflats. Due to the population, heavy industrialization, and intense use of the sea and area surrounding it. In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean, in the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively. In the north it is bordered by the Shetland Islands, and connects with the Norwegian Sea, the North Sea is more than 970 kilometres long and 580 kilometres wide, with an area of 570,000 square kilometres and a volume of 54,000 cubic kilometres. Around the edges of the North Sea are sizeable islands and archipelagos, including Shetland, Orkney, the North Sea receives freshwater from a number of European continental watersheds, as well as the British Isles. A large part of the European drainage basin empties into the North Sea including water from the Baltic Sea, the largest and most important rivers flowing into the North Sea are the Elbe and the Rhine – Meuse watershed. Around 185 million people live in the catchment area of the rivers discharging into the North Sea encompassing some highly industrialized areas, for the most part, the sea lies on the European continental shelf with a mean depth of 90 metres. The only exception is the Norwegian trench, which extends parallel to the Norwegian shoreline from Oslo to a north of Bergen. It is between 20 and 30 kilometres wide and has a depth of 725 metres. The Dogger Bank, a vast moraine, or accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris and this feature has produced the finest fishing location of the North Sea. The Long Forties and the Broad Fourteens are large areas with uniform depth in fathoms. These great banks and others make the North Sea particularly hazardous to navigate, the Devils Hole lies 200 miles east of Dundee, Scotland. The feature is a series of trenches between 20 and 30 kilometres long,1 and 2 kilometres wide and up to 230 metres deep. Other areas which are less deep are Cleaver Bank, Fisher Bank, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the North Sea as follows, On the Southwest
25.
Glacial lake outburst flood
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A glacial lake outburst flood is a type of outburst flood that occurs when the dam containing a glacial lake fails. An event similar to a GLOF, where a body of water contained by a glacier melts or overflows the glacier, is called a Jökulhlaup, the dam can consist of glacier ice or a terminal moraine. A glacial lake outburst flood is a type of outburst flood occurring when water dammed by a glacier or a moraine is released. A water body that is dammed by the front of a glacier is called a lake. When a marginal lake bursts, it may also be called a marginal lake drainage, when a sub-glacial lake bursts, it may be called a jökulhlaup. A jökulhlaup is thus a sub-glacial outburst flood, Glacial lake volumes vary, but may hold millions to hundreds of millions of cubic metres of water. Catastrophic failure of the ice or glacial sediment can release this water over periods of minutes to days. On a downstream floodplain, it suggests a somewhat slower inundation spreading as much as 10 kilometres wide, both scenarios are significant threats to life, property and infrastructure. The United Nations has a series of monitoring efforts to prevent death. The importance of this situation has magnified over the past century due to increased populations, there are a number of imminent deadly GLOFs situations that have been identified worldwide. The Tsho Rolpa glacier lake is located in the Rolwaling Valley, about 110 kilometres northeast of Kathmandu, Nepal, the lake is dammed by a 150 metres high unconsolidated terminal moraine dam. The most famous are the immense jökulhlaup released from the Vatnajökull Ice Cap in Iceland and it is not by chance that the term jökulhlaup comes from Icelandic, as the south of Iceland has very often been the victim of such catastrophes. The jökulhlaup reached a rate of 50,000 cubic metres per second. The flood carried ice floes that weighed up to 5000 tons with icebergs between 100–200 tons striking the Gigjukvisl Bridge of the Ring Road, the tsunami released was up to 4 metres high and 600 metres wide. The flood carried with it 185 million tons of silt, the jökulhlaup flow made it for several days the 2nd largest river after the Amazon. After the flooding, some icebergs 10 metres high could be seen on the banks of the river where the run had left them behind. The peak water release from a lake that develops around the Grímsvötn Volcanic Crater in the center of the Vatnajökull ice cap generates flows that exceed the volume of the Mississippi River. The outbursts have occurred in 1954,1960,1965,1972,1976,1982,1983,1986,1991 and 1996, in 1996, the eruption melted 3 cubic kilometres of ice and yielded an outburst of 6,000 cubic metres per second at peak flow
26.
Petrifaction
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Petrified wood typifies this process, but all organisms, from bacteria to vertebrates, can become petrified. Petrification takes place through a combination of two processes, permineralization and replacement. These processes create replicas of the specimen that are similar down to the microscopic level. One of the involved in petrification is permineralization. The fossils created through this process tend to contain an amount of the original material of the specimen. This process occurs when groundwater containing dissolved minerals, fills pore spaces and cavities of specimens, particularly bone, the pores of the organisms tissues are filled when these minerals precipitate out of the water. Two common types of permineralization are silicification and pyritization, silicification is the process in which organic matter becomes saturated with silica. A common source of silica is volcanic material, studies have shown that in this process, most of the original organic matter is destroyed. Silicification most often occurs in two environments-either the specimen is buried in sediments of deltas and floodplains or organisms are buried in volcanic ash, the process begins when a specimen is permeated with an aqueous silica solution. The cell walls of the specimen are progressively dissolved and silica is deposited into the empty spaces, in wood samples, as the process proceeds, cellulose and lignin, two components of wood, are degraded and replaced with silica. The specimen is transformed to stone as water is lost, pyritization is a process similar to silicification, but instead involves the deposition of iron and sulfur in the pores and cavities of an organism. Pyritization can result in both solid fossils as well as preserved soft tissues, in marine environments, pyritization occurs when organisms are buried in sediments containing a high concentration of iron sulfides. Organisms release sulfide, which reacts with dissolved iron in the surrounding water and this reaction between iron and sulfides forms pyrite. Carbonate shell material of the organism is replaced with pyrite due to a higher concentration of pyrite. Pyritization occurs to an extent in plants in clay environments. Replacement, the process involved in petrification, occurs when water containing dissolved minerals dissolves the original solid material of an organism. This can take place extremely slowly, replicating the structure of the organism. The slower the rate of the process, the better defined the structure will be
27.
Micraster
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Micraster is an extinct genus of echinoids from the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene. Its remains have been found in Africa, Antarctica, Europe, Micraster was an infaunal echinoid living in a burrow below the sediment surface. The test is clearly bilateral and there is an anterior groove to take in water containing organic particles to the mouth. The tube feet keep a supply of water moving into the burrow. The anus has a waste tube behind it, in the classic text, The Science of Life, H. G. Wells, Julian Huxley and G. P. Wells use Micraster as an example of a fossil whose continuous evolution can be traced over some 10 million years through 450–500 feet of chalk beds of the Late Cretaceous. They point out, During this long period the fossil Micrasters are so abundant that hundreds of thousands can be collected, there is a slow alteration of shape from rather flattened to rather arched, and from rather elongated to about as broads as long. Fossils by David Ward Micraster in the Paleobiology Database
28.
Brachiopods
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Brachiopods, phylum Brachiopoda, are a group of lophotrochozoan animals that have hard valves on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the end, while the front can be opened for feeding or closed for protection. Two major groups are recognized, articulate and inarticulate, the word brachiopod is formed from the Ancient Greek words βραχίων and πούς. They are often known as shells, since the curved shells of the class Terebratulida look rather like pottery oil-lamps. Lifespans range from three to thirty years. Ripe gametes float from the gonads into the coelom and then exit into the mantle cavity. The larvae of inarticulate brachiopods are miniature adults, with lophophores that enable the larvae to feed, traditionally, brachiopods have been regarded as members of, or as a sister group to, the deuterostomes, a superphylum that includes chordates and echinoderms. Lineages of brachiopods that have both fossil and extant taxa appeared in the early Cambrian, Ordovician, and Carboniferous periods, other lineages have arisen and then become extinct, sometimes during severe mass extinctions. Brachiopod fossils have been useful indicators of climate changes during the Paleozoic, however, after the Permian–Triassic extinction event, brachiopods recovered only a third of their former diversity. A study in 2007 concluded the brachiopods were especially vulnerable to the Permian–Triassic extinction, as they built calcareous hard parts and had low metabolic rates, Brachiopods live only in the sea, and most species avoid locations with strong currents or waves. The larvae of articulate species settle in quickly and form dense populations in well-defined areas while the larvae of inarticulate species swim for up to a month and have wide ranges, Brachiopods now live mainly in cold water and low light. Fish and crustaceans seem to find brachiopod flesh distasteful and seldom attack them, among brachiopods, only the lingulids have been fished commercially, on a very small scale. One brachiopod species may be a measure of environmental conditions around an oil terminal being built in Russia on the shore of the Sea of Japan, modern brachiopods range from 1 to 100 millimetres long, and most species are about 10 to 30 millimetres. The largest brachiopods known – Gigantoproductus and Titanaria, reaching 30 to 38 centimetres in width – occurred in the part of the Lower Carboniferous. Each has two valves which cover the dorsal and ventral surface of the animal, unlike bivalve molluscs whose shells cover the lateral surfaces, the valves are termed brachial and pedicle. The brachial valve bears on its inner surface the brachia from which the phylum gets its name, the pedicle valve has on its inner surface the attachment to the stalk-like pedicle by which most brachiopods attach themselves to the substrate. The pedicle valve is larger than the brachial. In most articulate brachiopod species, both valves are convex, the surfaces often bearing growth lines and/or other ornamentation, however, inarticulate lingulids, which burrow into the seabed, have valves that are smoother, flatter and of similar size and shape
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Bivalvia
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Bivalves as a group have no head and they lack some usual molluscan organs like the radula and the odontophore. They include the clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, scallops, the gills have evolved into ctenidia, specialised organs for feeding and breathing. Most bivalves bury themselves in sediment where they are safe from predation. Others lie on the sea floor or attach themselves to rocks or other hard surfaces, some bivalves, such as the scallops and file shells, can swim. The shipworms bore into wood, clay, or stone and live inside these substances, the shell of a bivalve is composed of calcium carbonate, and consists of two, usually similar, parts called valves. These are joined together along one edge by a ligament that, usually in conjunction with interlocking teeth on each of the valves. This arrangement allows the shell to be opened and closed without the two halves detaching, the shell is typically bilaterally symmetrical, with the hinge lying in the sagittal plane. Adult shell sizes of bivalves vary from fractions of a millimetre to over a metre in length, Bivalves have long been a part of the diet of coastal and riparian human populations. Oysters were cultured in ponds by the Romans, and mariculture has more become a important source of bivalves for food. Modern knowledge of molluscan reproductive cycles has led to the development of hatcheries, a better understanding of the potential hazards of eating raw or undercooked shellfish has led to improved storage and processing. Pearl oysters are the most common source of natural pearls, the shells of bivalves are used in craftwork, and the manufacture of jewellery and buttons. Bivalves have also used in the biocontrol of pollution. Bivalves appear in the record first in the early Cambrian more than 500 million years ago. The total number of living species is about 9,200 and these species are placed within 1,260 genera and 106 families. Marine bivalves represent about 8,000 species, combined in four subclasses and 99 families with 1,100 genera, the largest recent marine families are the Veneridae, with more than 680 species and the Tellinidae and Lucinidae, each with over 500 species. The freshwater bivalves include seven families, the largest of which are the Unionidae, the taxonomic term Bivalvia was first used by Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae in 1758 to refer to animals having shells composed of two valves. More recently, the class was known as Pelecypoda, meaning axe-foot, the name bivalve is derived from the Latin bis, meaning two, and valvae, meaning leaves of a door. Bivalves vary greatly in overall shape, some, such as the cockles, have shells that are nearly globular, cockles can jump by bending and straightening their foot
30.
Crinoid
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Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea of the echinoderms. The name comes from the Greek word krinon, a lily and they live in both shallow water and in depths as great as 9,000 meters. Those crinoids which, in their form, are attached to the sea bottom by a stalk are commonly called sea lilies. The unstalked forms are called feather stars or comatulids, crinoids are characterised by a mouth on the top surface that is surrounded by feeding arms. They have a U-shaped gut, and their anus is located next to the mouth, although the basic echinoderm pattern of fivefold symmetry can be recognised, most crinoids have many more than five arms. Crinoids usually have a used to attach themselves to a substrate. There are only about 600 extant crinoid species, but they were more abundant. Some thick limestone beds dating to the mid- to late-Paleozoic are almost entirely made up of disarticulated crinoid fragments, crinoids comprise three basic sections, the stem, the calyx, and the arms. The stem is composed of highly porous ossicles which are connected by ligamentary tissue, the calyx contains the crinoids digestive and reproductive organs, and the mouth is located at the top of the dorsal cup, while the anus is located peripheral to it. The majority of living crinoids are free-swimming and have only a vestigial stalk, in those deep-sea species that still retain a stalk, it may reach up to 1 metre in length, although it is usually much smaller. The base of the consists of a disc-like sucker, which. The stalk is lined by small cirri. Like other echinoderms, crinoids have pentaradial symmetry, the aboral surface of the body is studded with plates of calcium carbonate, forming an endoskeleton similar to that in starfish and sea urchins. These make the calyx somewhat cup-shaped, and there are few, if any, the upper surface, or tegmen, is divided into five ambulacral areas, including a deep groove from which the tube feet project, and five interambulacral areas between them. The anus, unusually for echinoderms, is found on the surface as the mouth. The ambulacral grooves extend onto the arms, which thus have tube feet along their inner surfaces, primitively, crinoids had only five arms, but in most living species these are divided into two, giving ten arms in total. In most living species, especially the free-swimming feather stars, the arms branch several times, the arms are jointed, and lined by smaller feather-like appendages, or pinnules, which also include tube feet. Crinoids feed by filtering small particles of food from the sea water with their feather like arms, the tube feet are covered with a sticky mucus that traps any food that floats past
31.
Carbonate hardgrounds
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Carbonate hardgrounds are surfaces of synsedimentarily cemented carbonate layers that have been exposed on the seafloor. A hardground is essentially, then, a lithified seafloor, ancient hardgrounds are found in limestone sequences and distinguished from later-lithified sediments by evidence of exposure to normal marine waters. Modern hardgrounds are usually detected by sounding in shallow water or through remote sensing techniques like side-scan radar, carbonate hardgrounds often host a unique fauna and flora adapted to the hard surface. Organisms usually cement themselves to the substrate and live as sessile filter-feeders, some bore into the cemented carbonate to make protective domiciles for filter-feeding. Sometimes hardgrounds are undermined by currents which remove the sediment below them. The evolution of hardground faunas can be traced through the Phanerozoic, the Ordovician-Silurian and the Jurassic-Cretaceous Systems have the most hardgrounds and the Permian-Triassic Systems have the least. This cyclicity in hardground formation is reflected in the evolution of hardground-dwelling communities, stratigraphers and sedimentologists often use hardgrounds as marker horizons and as indicators of sedimentary hiatuses and flooding events. Hardgrounds and their faunas can also represent very specific depositional environments such as channels and shallow marine carbonate ramps Bodenbender. Paleoecology of Sphenothallus on an Upper Ordovician hardground, preservation and paleoecology of a Middle Ordovician hardground community. Trace fossils at a regional discontinuity surface, the Austin/Taylor contact in central Texas, cS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Fürsich, F. T. Hardgrounds, reworked concretion levels and condensed horizons in the Jurassic of western India, journal of the Geological Society of London. Gawthorpe, R. L. Pollard, J. E. Sharp, ichnofabric analysis of the shallow marine Nukhul Formation, Suez Rift, Egypt, implications for depositional processes and sequence stratigraphic evolution. The ecology of a Middle Jurassic hardground and crevice fauna, cS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Palmer, T. J. Faunal distribution and colonization strategy in a Middle Ordovician hardground community, Wilson, M. A. Calcite precipitation and dissolution of biogenic aragonite in shallow Ordovician calcite seas. Burrows at certain omission surfaces in the Middle Ordovician of the Upper Mississippi Valley, Cambrian to Cretaceous changes in hardground communities. Read, J. F. High-resolution surface and subsurface sequence stratigraphy of the Middle to Late Ordovician foreland basin rocks, Kentucky, Wilson, M. A. Palaeoecology and evolution of marine hard substrate communities. Vinn, O. Wilson, M. A. Microconchid-dominated hardground association from the late Pridoli of Saaremaa, some encrusted hardgrounds from the Ordovician of Estonia. University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Institute of Earth Studies Publications, development of a Jurassic rocky shore complex
32.
Lithified
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Lithification is the process in which sediments compact under pressure, expel connate fluids, and gradually become solid rock. Essentially, lithification is a process of porosity destruction through compaction and cementation, lithification includes all the processes which convert unconsolidated sediments into sedimentary rocks. Petrifaction, though used as a synonym, is more specifically used to describe the replacement of organic material by silica in the formation of fossils
33.
Football pitch
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A football pitch is the playing surface for the game of association football. Made of turf or artificial turf, its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, all line markings on the pitch form part of the area which they define. For example, a ball on or above the touchline is still on the field of play, the field descriptions that apply to adult matches are described below. The Laws now express dimensions with approximate metric equivalents, but use of the imperial units remains common in some countries, the pitch is rectangular in shape. The longer sides are called touchlines, the other opposing sides are called the goal lines. The two goal lines must be between 45 and 90 m and be the same length, the two touch lines must also be of the same length, and be between 90 and 120 m in length. All lines must be wide, not to exceed 12 centimetres. The corners of the pitch are marked by corner flags, for international matches the field dimensions are more tightly constrained, the goal lines must be between 64 and 75 m long and the touchlines must be between 100 and 110 m. In March 2008 the IFAB attempted to standardise the size of the pitch for international matches. However, at a meeting of the IFAB on 8 May 2008, it was ruled that this change would be put on hold pending a review. In contrast, the byline is often used to refer to that portion of the goal line outside the goalposts. This term is used in football commentaries and match descriptions, such as this example from a BBC match report, Udeze gets to the left byline. Goals are placed at the centre of each goal-line and these consist of two upright posts placed equidistant from the corner flagposts, joined at the top by a horizontal crossbar. The inner edges of the posts must be 7.32 metres apart, nets are usually placed behind the goal, though are not required by the Laws. Goalposts and crossbars must be white, and made of wood, Rules regarding the shape of goalposts and crossbars are somewhat more lenient, but they must conform to a shape that does not pose a threat to players. Since the beginning of the football there have always been goalposts, but the crossbar wasnt invented until 1875, a goal is scored when the ball crosses the goal line between the goal-posts, even if a defending player last touched the ball before it crossed the goal line. Football goals were first described in England in the late 16th, in 1584 and 1602 respectively, John Norden and Richard Carew referred to goals in Cornish hurling. The first reference to scoring a goal is in John Days play The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, similarly in a poem in 1613, Michael Drayton refers to when the Ball to throw, And drive it to the Gole, in squadrons forth they goe
34.
Calcareous grassland
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Calcareous grassland is an ecosystem associated with thin basic soil, such as that on chalk and limestone downland. Plants on calcareous grassland are typically short and hardy, and include grasses, Calcareous grassland is an important habitat for insects, particularly butterflies, and is kept at a plagioclimax by grazing animals, usually sheep and sometimes cattle. Rabbits used to play a part but due to the onset of myxomatosis their numbers decreased so dramatically that they no longer have much of a grazing effect. There are large areas of grassland in northwestern Europe, particularly areas of southern England, such as Salisbury Plain. The machair forms a different kind of grassland, where fertile low-lying plains are formed on ground that is calcium-rich due to shell sand. Alvar Edaphic Rendzina Chalk heath Gibson, C. W. D, Chalk grasslands on former arable land, a review. The nature and rate of development of calcareous grassland in southern Britain, & Wells, D. A. Calcareous grasslands - ecology and management. Price, Elizabeth, Grassland and heathland habitats, New York, Routledge, p.208, ISBN 0-415-18762-1 Smith, the Ecology of the English Chalk. BIODIVERSITY OPPORTUNITY MAPPING STUDY FOR CENTRAL LINCOLNSHIRE
35.
Exmoor pony
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The Exmoor pony is a horse breed native to the British Isles, where some still roam as semi-feral livestock on Exmoor, a large area of moorland in Devon and Somerset in southwest England. The Exmoor has been given endangered status by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust and it is one of the British Isles mountain and moorland pony breeds, having conformation similar to that of other cold-weather-adapted pony breeds. The Exmoor pony is hardy and used for a variety of equestrian activities, in its free-roaming state, the breeds presence on Exmoor contributes to the conservation and management of several natural pasture habitats. Equines have been present in Britain since 700,000 BC, some claim that the breed has been purebred since the ice age, others claim this is unsupported by modern DNA research. There is however a close resemblance to the primitive wild horse. Archeological investigations have shown that horses were used for transport in the southwest of England as early as 400 BC, the breed nearly became extinct after the Second World War, owing to soldiers using them for target practice and thieves killing them for their meat. After the war a group of breeders worked to save the Exmoor. The first stud book was published in 1963, and in 1981 publicity resulted in increased interest in the breed, as of 2010 there were an estimated 800 Exmoor ponies worldwide. Exmoor ponies are usually a variant of dark bay, called brown, with markings around the eyes, muzzle, flanks. Pangaré markings occur in other equines as well as horses, and are considered to be a primitive trait, entry in the breed registry requires that the animal have no white markings. The chest is deep and the broad, the croup level. The legs are short, with bone and hard hooves. While an extra tooth may have developed from this extra blood supply. Exmoor fanciers claim the breed is descended from an isolated population of wild ancestors bred pure since the Ice Age. However, horses have been present in Britain for hundreds of thousands of years, no genetic studies to date have correlated these prehistoric remains to any modern breed. What has been studied are Y-chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA obtained from Exmoor ponies, the Exmoor pony shares this general Y-chromosome haplotype. The Exmoor pony has a frequency of pre-domestication mtDNA-haplotypes. The distance between the Exmoor and Pottock was 0.37, and between the Exmoor and Merens was 0.40, a wider gap than the distance between the Exmoor and Tarpan
36.
Natural England
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Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that Englands natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, freshwater and marine environments, geology and it also has a responsibility to help people enjoy, understand and access the natural environment. It has been criticised recently for ignoring scientific data and granting extended badger cull licences to DEFRA. Natural Englands latest corporate plan sets out its goals and detailed objectives and it is responsible for the delivery of some of Defras public service agreements. Natural England takes its finance, human resources and estates services from the Defra Shared Services organisation, information technology services are outsourced to IBM. Natural England joined the 10,10 project in 2009 in a bid to reduce its own carbon footprint, one year later they announced that they had reduced their carbon emissions by 13%. In 2008, Sir Martin Doughty, the chairman of Natural England warned the Prime Minister of the danger of genetically modified crops. In May 2008, Natural England published a report, State of the Natural Environment, the report was intended to be used by environmental organisations as a benchmark and source for policy development. These projects increased levels of activity and peoples connections to their local green spaces. However, it was not clear whether these projects really changed peoples long-term attitudes, Natural England is promoting the concept of green infrastructure as a way to deliver a wide range of benefits for people and the natural environment together. Natural England was challenged in High Court in 2006 by Peter Boggis, Natural England lost the case in 2009, when Mr. Justice Blair, the brother of the former Prime Minister, ruled that Mr. Boggis human predicament was more important than the sites SSSI status. Natural England won the subsequent appeal in October 2009
37.
The Wildlife Trusts
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The Wildlife Trusts, the trading name of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, is an organisation made up of 47 local Wildlife Trusts in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and Alderney. The Wildlife Trusts, between them, look after around 2,300 nature reserves covering more than 90,000 hectares, as of 2011 they have a combined membership of over 800,000 members. The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts is an independent charity, with a membership formed of the 47 local trusts and it acts as an umbrella group for the local Wildlife Trusts, as well as operating a separate grants unit which administers a number of funds. Charles, Prince of Wales serves as the patron of the Wildlife Trusts, Wildlife Trusts are local organisations of differing size, history and origins, and can vary greatly in their constitution, activities and membership. However, all wildlife trusts share a common interest in wildlife and biodiversity, rooted in a tradition of land management. Almost all county Wildlife Trusts are significant landowners, with many nature reserves, collectively they are the third largest voluntary sector landowners in the UK. They often have extensive educational activities, and programmes of public events, the trusts rely heavily upon volunteer labour for many of their activities, but nevertheless employ significant numbers of staff in countryside management and education. Thanks to their work promoting the personal and social development of young people, the Wildlife Trusts offer a Biodiversity Benchmark scheme through which companies can be assessed and recognised for their contribution to biodiversity. The assessment covers the organisations performance under the headings of Commitment, Planning, Implementation, todays Wildlife Trust movement began life as The Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, which was formed by Charles Rothschild in 1912. During the early years, membership tended to be made up of specialist naturalists and its growth was comparatively slow and these early Trusts tended to focus on purchasing land to establish nature reserves in the geographical areas they served. Encouraged by the number of Trusts, the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves began in 1957 to discuss the possibility of forming a national federation of Naturalists Trusts. Kent Naturalists Trust was established in 1958 with SPNR being active in encouraging its formation, in the following year the SPNR established the County Naturalists Committee, which organised the first national conference for Naturalists Trusts at Skegness in 1960. By 1964, the number of Trusts had increased to 36, in recognition of the movements growing importance, its name was changed to The Royal Society for Nature Conservation in 1981. The organisation is now known as the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, the movement continued to develop throughout the 1970s, and, by the early 1980s, most of todays Trusts had been established. In 1980 the first urban Wildlife Trust was established in the West Midlands, rapidly followed by others in London, Bristol and this was a watershed for the movement that strengthened its focus on wildlife and people. It was during this period that some Trusts changed their names from Naturalist Societies to Trusts for Nature Conservation, the badger logo was adopted by the movement to establish its common identity. As the number of Trusts grew, so did their combined membership, membership topped 100,000 in 1975, and in that year Wildlife Watch was launched as a childrens naturalist club. By the late 1980s membership had reached 200,000, increasing to 260,000 in 1995, the combined membership for 2007 stood at 670,000 members,108,000 belonging to the junior branch Wildlife Watch
38.
Raven
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A raven is one of several larger-bodied species of the genus Corvus. These species do not form a taxonomic group within the genus. The largest raven species are the common raven and the thick-billed raven, the modern English word raven has cognates in all other Germanic languages, including Old Norse hrafn and Old High German raban, all of which descend from Proto-Germanic *hrabanaz. Obsolete collective nouns for a group of ravens include unkindness and conspiracy, in practice, most people use the more generic flock
39.
Western jackdaw
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The western jackdaw, also known as the Eurasian jackdaw, European jackdaw, or simply jackdaw, is a passerine bird in the crow family. Found across Europe, western Asia and North Africa, it is mostly resident, four subspecies are recognised, which mainly differ in the colouration of the plumage on the head and nape. Linnaeus first described it formally, giving it the name Corvus monedula, the common name derives from the word jack, meaning small, and daw, the native English name for the bird. Measuring 34–39 centimetres in length, the jackdaw is a black-plumaged bird with a grey nape. It is gregarious and vocal, living in groups with a complex social structure in farmland, open woodland, on coastal cliffs. Like its relatives, Jackdaws are intelligent birds, and have been observed using tools, an omnivorous and opportunistic feeder, it eats a wide variety of plant material and invertebrates, as well as food waste from urban areas. Western jackdaws are monogamous and build nests of sticks in cavities in trees, cliffs. About five pale blue or blue-green eggs with brown speckles are laid, the young fledge in four to five weeks. The western jackdaw was one of the species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 18th century work Systema Naturae. Jackdaws are sometimes placed in the genus Coloeus, from the Ancient Greek κολοιός for jackdaw, formerly, western jackdaws were simply called daws. The metallic chyak call may be the origin of the part of the common name. Names in English dialects are numerous, scottish and north English dialects have included ka or kae since the 14th century. The Midlands form of this word was co or coo, caddow is potentially a compound of ka and dow, a variant of daw. Other dialectal or obsolete names include caddesse, cawdaw, caddy, chauk, college-bird, jackerdaw, jacko, ka-wattie, chimney-sweep bird and it was also frequently known quasi-nominally as Jack. An archaic collective noun for a group of jackdaws is a clattering, another name for a flock is a train. A study in 2000 found that the distance between jackdaws and the other members of Corvus was greater than that within the rest of the genus. A study of corvid phylogeny undertaken in 2007 compared DNA sequences in the control region of several corvids. It found that the western jackdaw, and the closely related Daurian jackdaw of eastern Russia, the names Coloeus monedula and Coloeus dauuricus have since been adopted by the International Ornithological Congress in their official list
40.
Peregrine falcon
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The peregrine falcon, also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a back, barred white underparts. As is typical of bird-eating raptors, peregrine falcons are sexually dimorphic, the peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching over 320 km/h during its characteristic hunting stoop, making it the fastest member of the animal kingdom. According to a National Geographic TV programme, the highest measured speed of a falcon is 389 km/h. The peregrines breeding range includes land regions from the Arctic tundra to the tropics and this makes it the worlds most widespread raptor and one of the most widely found bird species. Both the English and scientific names of this species mean wandering falcon, the two species divergence is relatively recent, during the time of the last ice age, therefore the genetic differential between them is relatively small. It has been determined that they are only approximately 0. 6–0. 8% genetically differentiated, while its diet consists almost exclusively of medium-sized birds, the peregrine will occasionally hunt small mammals, small reptiles, or even insects. Reaching sexual maturity at one year, it mates for life and nests in a scrape, normally on cliff edges or, in recent times, the peregrine falcon became an endangered species in many areas because of the widespread use of certain pesticides, especially DDT. Since the ban on DDT from the early 1970s, populations have recovered, supported by large-scale protection of nesting places and releases to the wild. The peregrine falcon is a well respected falconry bird due to its hunting ability, high trainability, versatility. It is effective on most game species from small to large. The peregrine falcon has a length of 34 to 58 cm. Males weigh 330 to 1,000 g and the larger females weigh 700 to 1,500 g. In most subspecies, males less than 700 g and females weigh more than 800 g. The standard linear measurements of peregrines are, the wing chord measures 26.5 to 39 cm, the tail measures 13 to 19 cm and the tarsus measures 4.5 to 5.6 cm. The back and the long pointed wings of the adult are usually black to slate grey with indistinct darker barring. The white to rusty underparts are barred with thin bands of dark brown or black. The tail, coloured like the back but with thin clean bars, is long, narrow, and rounded at the end with a black tip and a white band at the very end
41.
Alauda
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Alauda is a genus of larks found across much of Europe, Asia and in the mountains of north Africa, and one of the species endemic to the islet of Raso in the Cape Verde Islands. Further, at least two species are known from the fossil record. The current genus name is from Latin alauda, lark, pliny the Elder thought the word was originally of Celtic origin. The genus Alauda has four extant and at least two extinct species, formerly, many other species have also been considered to belong to the genus
42.
Fulmar
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The fulmars are tubenosed seabirds of the family Procellariidae. The family consists of two extant species and two extinct fossils from the Miocene, Fulmars superficially resemble gulls, but are readily distinguished by their flight on stiff wings, and their tube noses. They breed on cliffs, laying an egg on a ledge of bare rock. Outside the breeding season, they are pelagic, feeding on fish, squid and they are long-lived for birds, living for up to 40 years. Historically, the northern fulmar lived on the Isle of St Kilda, the species has expanded its breeding range southwards to the coasts of England and northern France. As members of Procellaridae and then the order Procellariiformes, they share certain traits, first, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called naricorns. The bills of Procellariiformes are unique in being split into seven and nine horny plates. Finally, they produce an oil made up of wax esters. This can be sprayed out of their mouths as a defence against predators and as a rich food source for chicks. It will mat the plumage of avian predators, which can lead to their death, Fulmars have a salt gland that is situated above the nasal passage and helps desalinate their bodies, due to the high amount of ocean water that they imbibe. It excretes a strong saline solution from their nose, two prehistoric species have been described from fossil bones found on the Pacific coast of California, Fulmarus miocaenus and Fulmarus hammeri from the Miocene. The genus name Fulmarus is derived from the Old Norse word fúll meaning foul, the two fulmars are closely related seabirds occupying the same niche in different oceans. The northern fulmar or just fulmar lives in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, whereas the southern fulmar, is, as its name implies and these birds look superficially like gulls, but are unrelated, and are in fact petrels. The northern species is grey and white with a bill,43 to 52 cm in length with a 102 to 112 cm wingspan. The southern form is a bird with dark wing tips,45 to 50 cm long. Both recent species breed on cliffs, laying a single white egg, in Britain, northern fulmars historically bred on St. Kilda. They spread into northern Scotland in the 19th century, and to the rest of the United Kingdom by 1930, Fulmars are highly pelagic outside the breeding season, like most tubenoses, feeding on fish, squid, shrimps or offal. The population increase has been notable in the British Isles
43.
Black-legged kittiwake
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The black-legged kittiwake is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae. This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Larus tridactylus, the English name is derived from its call, a shrill kittee-wa-aaake, kitte-wa-aaake. The genus name Rissa is from the Icelandic name Rita for this bird, the adult is 37–41 cm in length with a wingspan of 91–105 cm and a body mass of 305–525 g. It has a head and body, grey back, grey wings tipped solid black, black legs. Occasional individuals have pinky-grey to reddish legs, inviting confusion with red-legged kittiwake, in winter, this species acquires a dark grey smudge behind the eye and a grey hind-neck collar. It is a breeding bird around the north Pacific and north Atlantic oceans, found most commonly in North America. It breeds in colonies on cliffs and is very noisy on the breeding ground. One to two spotted eggs are laid in the nest lined with moss or seaweed. The downy young of kittiwakes are white, since they have no need of camouflage from predators, the old fishermans name of tarrock for juvenile kittiwakes is still occasionally used. They are fish feeders, and are more pelagic than Larus gulls outside the breeding season and they do not scavenge at landfill like some other gull species. There are two races of black-legged kittiwake, R. t. tridactyla –, nominate, found in the North Atlantic Ocean, is unique among the Laridae in having only a small or even no hind toe. R. t. pollicaris –, found in the north Pacific Ocean, has a normally developed hind toe, birdLife species factsheet for Rissa tridactyla Rissa tridactyla. Rissa tridactyla in the Flickr, Field Guide Birds of the World Black-legged kittiwake media at ARKive
44.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
White Cliffs of Dover shown within Kent
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