Photoblog

I have been reading a number of books on Orkney, especially the history of the 67 Islands that make up this group of islands off the north coast of Scotland. So todays BBC news that a viking boat has been discovered in the Wirral, Merseyside is a bit of a surprise. You can read the article on the BBC website:

Viking ship ‘buried beneath pub’ 
 
The vessel could be similar to the longship, the Sea Stallion
A 1,000-year-old Viking longship is thought to have been discovered under a pub car park on Merseyside.

I remember seeing the ancient boat recovered from the Tay in Scotland and I put pictures of the event on my website. It was fascinating seeing the boat being brought down the Tay and lifted carefully onto a lorry for removal for conservation.

Taking the dogs for a walk in a nearby woodland has advantages - you do come across unusual plants, in this case fungie and lichens. Lichens are probably one of the strangest plants, consisting of a fungus and lichen living together in a symbiotic relationship. I snapped a couple of photos.

Larger image for printing of this small puff fungus (I am not sure what one).

Below is a picture of lichens, I never get the depth of field correct so this was just luck

Larger image of this picture of lichens on a tree

If you are interested in learning more about Fungi or Lichens then check out books on this subject.

UK Nature Books - Books on Mushrooms

UK - Books on Lichens

Money and Loans, everyone of us has borrowed money and many are now wondering if it was such a good idea. I have just finished reading a Telegraph article - We will pay for living beyong our means by Simon Heffer, and while you may not agree with his politics he is making a lot of sense in this article. Of course if you had listened to your grandparents then they probably would have told you the same thing.

I think it is time we all started to save for the essentials of modern life - large plasma tv, mobile phones or the new Apple ipods and phones.