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Showing posts with the label wildlife

‘Wildlife photography and illustrations’

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The Otter Valley Association and Fairlynch Museum are jointly presenting talks on Saturday 7 February in Budleigh Salterton’s Peter Hall by two distinguished experts who are noted for their stunning images of wildlife. Photographer David Spears' talk is entitled 'Tiny Lives in Rivers and Estuaries.' David filmed with David Bellamy and David Attenborough on a number of projects before later setting up his own production company, Science Pictures.     He uses various imaging tools including high-powered electron microscopes to illustrate the range of organisms that he finds interesting.  Two of his pictures are shown here. He will include brief descriptions of the methodology he uses, but more importantly, show images of organisms which form critical stages in the food chain that sustains the larger and more accessible and familiar animals living in the Otter. Mike Langman, a full-time wildlife illustrator with a passion for birds will presen...

The Marine Treasures of Lyme Bay

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Could this really be the Year of the Sponge? My crazy fantasy at http://budleighbrewsterunited.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/absorbing-read.html about a Budleigh Sponge Day may not have been so crazy after all. I've just read Simon Barnes' piece entitled Unexplored wilderness at the end of the pier in The Times at http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/simonbarnes/article3669027.ece reflecting on the wonderful hidden world of the Cromer Shoal Chalk Reef off the coast of NE Norfolk . Among other strange and beautiful secrets the Reef has yielded "a species of purple sponge new to science." That "new to science" phrase struck a chord, still reeling as I am from having written 70,000 words about Victorian spongiologist Henry Carter FRS (1813-95) as part of my own exploration of 19th century science, a world previously foreign to me. "New to science" was the excited and triumphant clarion-call favoured by Victorian botanists, zoologi...

The East gets a taste of Fairlynch

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Fairlynch Museum prides itself on growing global links. Our Local History Group regularly receives enquiries from people on the other side of the world asking if we can provide information about their Devon ancestors.   Singapore city skyline at dusk   Image credit: Chensiyuan We've just had an email from the USA offering us original Budleigh lace work and tools. And my research into the life and work of Henry John Carter for the forthcoming Sea, Salt and Sponges exhibition has led me to contact people in places ranging from the Netherlands to Japan , from India to California . After all, HJC as I'll call Budleigh's most distinguished scientist did spend over 20 years of his life exploring the deserts and coasts of Arabia before settling in India where he made a name for himself as a geologist and highly respected microscopist. And then, back in quiet little old Budleigh, was sent sponges from all over the world for the next twenty years by instituti...