Articles in ‘Nature trivia about Britain’
March 12th, 2010
Photo by TallGuy
The famous whalebone arch on Whitby’s West Cliff is a symbol of the whaling industry that thrived there and in other English ports like Hull and Yarmouth in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The 15 ft bones are from a Bowhead whale, killed under license by Alaskan Inuits, and unveiled by Miss Alaska in 2003. An even larger arch stood on the same spot, made from the 20 ft jaw bones of a Fin whale, presented to the town by Norway in 1963.
During England’s years as a whaling nation, captains returning from Greenland would bring home these huge bones as souvenirs. Ship crews would tie a pair of whale jaw bones to the mast to let anxious families on land know there’d been no casualties. Some of the bones were used in construction as house ends. Some were set in fields for cattle to rub against. Read the rest of this entry
Nature trivia about Britain, Sea mammals of Britain | Tags: animal with biggest mouth, Bowhead whales in England, stranded whales in England, the mammal that lives longest, whale bones in Britain, whalebone arch whitby, whales in Britain, whaling in England, whaling in Whitby|
December 26th, 2009
When Queen Victoria was visiting the Cairngorms of Scotland, she asked her guide to translate the name of a mountain, Bod an Deamhain. “The Devil’s Point”, he replied, in effect rechristening it, since a truer translation of the Scottish Gaelic would be “Penis of the demon”.
Queen Victoria’s travels around Britain led to other toponymic changes. When she visited the spectacular cave in the Peak District, known locally as the Devil’s Arse due to the flatulent sounds heard there, she was informed it was called the Peak Cavern. Over a hundred years later, the original name is officially being used again.
Photo of the Devil’s Point from www.conneryscottishwalks.co.uk
History of the British landscape, Nature trivia about Britain | Tags: Devil place names, Devil's Arse in the Peak District, Devil's Point in the Cairngorms, how did the Devil's Arse get its name, Queen Victoria and toponomy, rude place names, Victorian prudery|
September 19th, 2009
Ammonites are easy to find on Whitby Beach, so fossil and curiosity dealers would try to attract customers by carving snake heads on the stones. It was a particularly tempting ploy in the Victorian age, when fossil collections and curiosity cabinets were all the rage.
The carvers were inspired by the legend of St Hilda, an abbess who lived in Whitby in the 7th century. The area was infested with snakes until she turned them all into “coils of stone”. Her work was completed by St Cuthbert of Lindesfarne, whose curse left the snakes headless. Read the rest of this entry
England, Folklore about British reptiles, Nature trivia about Britain, North-east England | Tags: ammonite folklore, fossils in Whitby, fossils on Whitby beach, legend of St Hilda of Whitby, similarity of ammonites to snakes, snakestone in British museum, St Hilda ammonites, Victorian fossil collectors|
September 18th, 2009
photo taken near Dundee by John Gilmour as featured in AuroraWatch
Of course the best viewing place is in the Arctic Circle, but the Northern Lights are occasionally visible from Britain. On rare occasions they are visible as far south as the Mediterranean.
Lancaster University’s AuroraWatch has a gallery of images that testify to the visibility of the Aurora in places like Folkestone and Staffordshire. The photographs show awe-inspiring displays of green and red light rampaging above the roof tops and television aerials. Read the rest of this entry
Natural phenomena in Britain, Nature folklore, Nature trivia about Britain, Scotland | Tags: aurora borealis in Britain, can you see the northern lights in Britain, Northern Lights in Scotland, Northern Lights in Scottish folklore, where to see the Northern Lights in Britain|
September 16th, 2009
The sighting of a Tufted Puffin in the Oare Marshes nature reserve on the Swale estuary has still to be officially verified, but hordes of twitchers are heading to Kent in hope of a glimpse. It would be the first sighting of this North Pacific Ocean species in Britain. One theory for its appearance so far from home is that melting Arctic ice is creating a new corridor for seabirds to move from one ocean to another. Another explanation is that it’s an escapee from Living Coasts in Torquay. The Tufted Puffin is a striking bird with blond head plumes and a thick red bill. See Wikipedia
Birds of Britain, Nature trivia about Britain, Scotland, The Shetlands, Weather and climate | Tags: climate change effect on birds, non native bird in Britian, Pacific seabirds seen in Atlantic, Tufted Puffin sighting in Kent|
August 20th, 2009
I very much enjoyed this BBC Radio 4 documentary on why the British love wild animals and on the origin of wildlife protection in the UK. Italian architect Francesco Da Mosto explores the apparent special relationship between the British and the natural world, and discovers that the answer seems to lie in the 19th century. Extracts by Oddie and Attenborough. Listen
Nature trivia about Britain | Tags: the British and the natural world, Why do the British love natural history?, Why do the British love nature?|
August 20th, 2009
The Sea Birds Preservation Act 1869 was one of the first pieces of parliamentary legislation anywhere in the world to protect wildlife, and the first to offer birds protection on the United Kingdom. The bill came about from a local campaign by local clergy and naturalists to save the birds of Flamborough Head being annually blasted away by hunters and eggs being collected. It introduced a close season from April to August to allow the bird to breed. Read the rest of this entry
Birds of Britain, Nature trivia about Britain, Seabirds of Britain | Tags: Flamborough pilots, Flanborough Head birds, History of bird protection, History of British birds, MP Christopher Sykes|
August 7th, 2009
The western tip of the Isle of Wight peters out in a series of three jagged rocks known as the Needles. You might think they owe their name to their sharp edges but it turns out there used to be a fourth, needle-shaped, rock called Lot’s wife, as shown in Isaac Taylor’s map of Hampshire published in 1759. Read the rest of this entry
Geography of Britain, History of the British landscape, Landforms of Britain, Nature trivia about Britain, Southern England | Tags: Chalk formation in south England, chalk rock formations in England, famous rocks of England, iconic landmarks of Britain, origen of the Needles, Things to do on the isle of Wight, things to see on the Isle of Wight|
July 28th, 2009
Britain’s smallest island lies off the south west coast at the western tip of the Scilly Isles. Bishop Rock is also classed in the Guinness Book of Records as the smallest built-on island in the world. In fact, the only building is a lighthouse, as there isn’t room for anything else. To the west of Bishop Rock, there’s no more land till the American coast, so it bears the full brunt of Atlantic gales. The lighthouse was built with great difficulty – the first one was washed away in 1850 before it could be used. An enormous wave once snatched away the 550lb fog bell. The island has not been inhabited since 1992 when the lighthouse became fully automated and the last keepers left.
The lighthouse features in the BBC’s Seven Man Made Wonders
Geography of Britain, Landforms of Britain, Nature trivia about Britain | Tags: Bishop Rock, Bishop Rock lighthouse, smallest island of Britain|
July 24th, 2009
The village of of Holme Fen, specifically Holme Posts as depicted above, is probably the lowest land point in England at nearly 3 metres (9.8 ft) below sea level. Wikipedia
See also
UK’s lowest spot getting lower
“Conservationists have raised concerns that the lowest land spot in the UK is sinking.Holme Fen, a national nature reserve near Peterborough in Cambridgeshire, has sunk by about four metres since draining work began in the 1850s, leaving it about 2.75 m below sea level. ” BBC
Holme Fen is a rare surviving relic of the vast fenlands that once covered the countryside in parts of East Anglia. Listen to BBC documentary about Holme Fen here.
Geography of Britain, Landforms of Britain, Nature trivia about Britain | Tags: Cambridgeshire, Holme Fen, Interesting facts about Cambridgeshire, Lowest altitude in England, Lowest point in the UK, Places in England below sea level, The Fens, The lowest land point in England, X The lowest place in Britain|
June 26th, 2009
The Fortingall Yew is generally considered as the oldest tree in Britain. Like many yews, it stands in a churchyard. Yews were sacred for the Celts, and the Christian church often found it expedient to take over these existing sacred sites for churches. This oldest of yews is the village of Fortingall in Perthshire. Recent tests suggest the tree is some 2,000 years old, rather younger than the 5,000 years claimed by some, but still probably one of the oldest trees in Northern Europe. The yew was vandalised for tourist trinkets in the 19th century, and its once massive girths is now split into several trunks, giving the impression of several smaller trees.
Flora of Britain, Nature trivia about Britain, Scotland, Trees of Britain | Tags: ancient trees of Scotland, Perthshire, Scottish yew trees, Taxus baccata in Britain, The Fortingall Yew, The oldest tree in Scotland, yews in Britain, Yews in churchyards|
June 19th, 2009
There are a number of well-documented cases of raining animals in modern British history. Such occurrences are not as uncommon as they may sound. With strong winds (thunderstorms for example) small whirlwinds and mini-tornadoes may form. Over the sea these are known as waterspouts, which trawl up water and any fish near the surface. When the tornado touches the land it loses energy and its contents are thrown to the ground. When these tornadoes travel over water any small items of debris in their path, such as fish or frogs, may be picked up and carried for up to several miles. BBC
Cases
- BBC Overview As recently as August 8, 2000 a shower of dead but still fresh sprats rained down on the fishing port of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, England, after a thunderstorm. The fish shower would have been caused by a small tornado out to sea, known as a waterspout, which trawls up water and any fish near the surface. When the tornado touches the land it begins to lose energy and its contents are thrown to the ground.
- Raining animals in the British Isles Excellent “A torrential downpour of goldfish and Koi carp amazed golfers on a Wiltshire golf course. Four golfers, playing on the Netherampton course, took cover in a shelter when it started raining. When they came out, the fairway was strewn with fish”
- BBC report on raining fish “Heavens above - it rained fish in Norfolk on Sunday. Yet for all the biblical resonance of the tale, there is a rational explanation for this rare phenomenon
- 1841: Live fish fell from the sky in Aberdare
- At least four fish-falls in Scotland recorded in the past 20 years in Fife, Rossshire, Perthshire and Argyll
- Indeterminate creatures fell from the sky in Bath, England, in 1894 ” a storm of glutinous drops neither jellyfish nor masses of frog spawn, but something of a [line missing here in original text. Ed.] railroad station, at Bath. “Many soon developed into a wormlike chrysalis, about an inch in length.” The account of this occurrence in the Zoologist, 2-6-2686, is more like the Eton-datum: of minute forms, said to have been infusoria; not forms about an inch in length”. more here
Nature trivia about Britain, Weather and climate, amphibians of Britain | Tags: fish downpours, fish-falls in Scotland, frog rain in Britain, frog showers in the UK, Great Yarmouth fish fall, Raining animals in England, tornadoes in Britain, whirlwinds in Britain|
June 15th, 2009
While reading about basking sharks, I came across the story of the Stronsay beast, a large, dead sea-creature that washed ashore on the island of Stronsay in the Orkney Islands, after a storm in 1808. The decomposed carcass was said to measure 55 feet in length, without the tail. The terrible beast was reported in the local press athe time:
“Its flesh was described as being like ‘coarse, ill-coloured beef, entirely covered with fat and tallow and without the least resemblance or affinity to fish’. The skin, which was grey coloured and had an elastic texture was said to be about two inches thick in parts.”
Account of the Stronsay Beast as reported in The Orcadian newspaper. From The Stronsay Beast
The Natural History Society of Edinburgh was unable to identify the carcass and decided it was a new species, probably a sea serpent. Later the anatomist Sir Everard Home dismissed the measurement, declaring it must have been around 36 feet, and deemed it to be a decayed basking shark as basking sharks can take on a ‘pseudo plesiosaur’ appearance when they decompose. “First the shark’s jaws - which are attached only by a small piece of flesh - drop off leaving what looks like the remains of a long neck and a small skull.” More here
References
Fish in British seas, Folklore about British fish, Nature folklore, Nature trivia about Britain, Orkney Islands, Scotland | Tags: Basking shark legends, Basking sharks, cryptozoology, island of Stronsay, Orkney Islands legends, sea serpents in Britain, The Orcadian newspaper|
June 9th, 2009
Shearwaters are associated in folklore with death. This undoubtedly comes from their eeirie cooing nocturnal cry like a cackling witch from the underworld.
This Isle of Man web on the Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) notes:
“A description of their voice on The Isle of Man, in 1731 says this: “The spirit which haunted the coasts have originated in this noise. , described as infernal. The disturbed spirit of a person shipwrecked on a rock adjacent to this coast wanders about it still, and sometimes makes so terrible a yelling that it is heard at an incredible distance. They tell you that houses even shake with it; and that, not only mankind, but all the brute creation within hearing, tremble at the sound. But what serves very much to increase the shock is that, whenever it makes this extraordinary noise, it is a sure prediction of an approaching storm. . . . At other times the spirit cries out only, ” Hoa, hoa, hoa !” with a voice little, if anything, louder than a human one.”
Richard Dawkins cites the Manx Shearwater on page 87 of his book The God Delusion.
One of the cleverer and more mature of my undergraduate contemporaries, who was deeply religious, went camping in the Scottish isles. In the middle of the night he and his girlfriend were woken in their tent by the voice of the devil, Satan himself; there could be no possible doubt: the voice was in every sense diabolical. My friend would never forget this horrifying experience, and it was one of the factors that later drove him to be ordained. My youthful self was impressed by this story, and recounted it to a gathering of zoologists relaxing in the Rose and Crown Inn, Oxford. Two of them happened to be experienced ornithologists, and they roared with laughter. ‘Manx Shearwater!’ they shouted in delighted chorus. One of them added that the diabolical shrieks and cackles of this species have earned it, in various parts of the world and various languages, the local nickname ‘Devil Bird’.
Around the web
Folklore about shearwaters elsewhere in the world
- In Turkey it was believed that the Dusky Shearwaters which daily travel in mysterious flocks up and down the Bosphorus were animated by condemned human souls. Read here
- Aboard French ships in the nineteenth century both storm petrels and shearwaters were known as âmes damnées (”souls of the damned”), the subtext being that, like some ghosts, part of their punishment after death was to continue to haunt the earth. Muslim seafarers in the nineteenth century similarly said that the Manx and Mediterranean shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus and Puffinus yelkouan) of the eastern Mediterranean were inhabited by damned souls, a belief possibly suggested by their dark plumage. Read here
Birds of Britain, Folklore about British birds, Nature folklore, Nature trivia about Britain, Seabirds of Britain | Tags: âmes damnées, legends about shearwaters, Manx shearwaters, Mythology about shearwaters, Puffinus puffinus, Richard Dawkins on birds, stories about shearwaters|
June 8th, 2009
Volcanic eruptions, lightning strikes, lizard bites and hornet stings caused some of the more unusual injuries listed by the Department of Health (DoH).
From the Guardian here :
Accidents cost the NHS about £1bn a year. The most common cause of injury was falling, which led to 119,203 admissions to casualty.
Thousands suffered attacks from a wide variety of animals. These included 451 people stung by hornets, 46 bitten by venomous snakes and lizards, 24 bitten by rats, 15 injured in contact with a marine mammal, two people bitten by centipedes and one attacked by an alligator. But dogs accounted for most injuries with 3,508 people suffering bites.
Hundreds more fell victims to natural hazards, with 54 people struck by lightning, 37 victims of “volcanic eruption” (sic), 25 injured in “cataclysmic storms”, 12 suffered from avalanches and seven were victims of earthquakes. A further 107 were exposed to “unspecified forces of nature”.
Adder bites in the UK
From the NHS (Plus lots of information on symptoms, causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of adder bites)
- Each year, approximately 100 cases of adder bites are reported in the UK. Most bites occur between February and October, with the number of bites peaking during the summer months. Note: I was bitten by an adder in Norfolk in 1972 when I was seven, though it did not inject much venom).
- Since records began in 1876 there have only been 14 reported deaths caused by adder bites, with the last death a 5-year-old child in 1975.
- In addition to the adder, it is estimated that there are 75 species of exotic venomous snakes held in the UK, both legally and illegally, by private snake collectors and enthusiasts. These snakes are thought to be responsible for between five to six cases of snake bites in the UK each year. Most cases involve the snake’s owner
Statistically you have more chance of being killed by a wasp than dying at the teeth of Britain’s only venomous snake. The Independent
Natural disasters in Britain, Nature trivia about Britain, Reptiles of Britain | Tags: Adder bites in Britain, Adder bites in England, Dangerous animals in Britain, Deaths from adders in Britain, How many people are bitten by adders every year in Britain?, snakes venom deaths in England|
The RSPB is gathering extensive information about exactly where swifts are nesting in the UK. It is suspected that their rapid decline in recent years is linked with a drop in suitable nesting sites, as buildings are modernised.
The first year’s survey reveals that of the houses where swifts are nesting:
A new generation of commoners will receive financial support to ensure animals continue to graze in the New Forest and so conserve its rich biodiversity.
The Co-op is further expanding its 
There are now some excellent landscape blogs covering Britain. Here are a few:
With more and more people wanting to grow their own fruit and vegetables, the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners have over 100,000 people on their waiting lists. The National Trust have responded to this demand by allocating land for “super allotments” or community farms. In return for a monthly fee, members will decide what should be grown, and have the opportunity to work on the farms, receiving a share of the produce. 
