Carnival Time (6): Tulip Fest

Tulip Time!
Tulip design from Coastcard

Tulips at Aberglasney
2010
(immediately above and the two photos below)
More on Aberglasney

shirlsgardenwatch.co.uk

Thanks to Rosie at Leaves'n'Bloom, I discovered that Shirl at Shirl's GardenWatch is hosting a TulipFest.

Why not take a tulip photo and join in, by posting it with a link to Shirl's site?

Tulips in the National Botanic Garden of Wales
(2009)

A sea of tulips in the National Botanic Garden of Wales
(2009)

Tulips by A.E. Stallings... I wonder if tulips make you feel this way, too. I have just written a Ghazal about tulips in Emirgan Park, Istanbul.

Beautiful Birds (18): RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch - and Blog Carnivals

A little reminder about the annual RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend - on 30 and 31 January 2010. Do consider taking part. You can find the details here. There may even be an organised activity in your neck of the woods.

On the subject of birds and their habitats, there is probably still time for you to take part in two of the forthcoming international nature-orientated Blog Carnivals, 'I and the Bird' (IATB site here, deadline 4 February) and the 'Festival of the Trees' (deadline for blog-post submissions: 30 January).

Don't miss the present IATB carnival, hosted on and around a lake created by Seabrooke Leckie ('The Marvelous in Nature' blog) in rural eastern Ontario. This is well worth a visit for the ingenious artwork in addition to the wonderful linked blogs.

You can read my FOTT post here on my Land&Lit blog for a blend of wildlife and history. If you see trees with an artist's eye, you might well enjoy a virtual wander through the new Cornish exhibition, Of Woods and Trees, at Beside the Wave Gallery in Falmouth, UK.

Don't forget: Tuesday 2 February is World Wetlands Day! It marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the city of Ramsar in Iran, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Each year since 1997, participants have tried to find ways of raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits.

Poetry Matters (3): Darwin: science 'versus' poetry

I have been planning for some days to write about Darwin and the developing debate along the lines of the intrinsic weightings of science as opposed to poetry. Thankfully I have been pipped to the post by Professor David Morley of the University of Warwick.

There has been much talk about the 250th anniversary of the publication of The Origins of the Species, but far less media coverage (or so it seems to me) concerning the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth, 12 February 2009. The latter event has not been completely overshadowed, however: Americans at the University of Arizona marked the scientist's birthday with ... poetry.

Britain also had his celebrations: Ruth Padel, great great granddaughter of Charles Darwin, was taking part in a poetry and science event at Somerset House on 9 February. Her latest book, Darwin: a Life in Poems has just been published. I am grateful to my friend, Mary, for pointing out that Melvyn Bragg has been doing a major radio series on Darwin (In our Time, BBC Radio 4): take a look at the website.

• God and Evolution by R.J. Berry (a scientist's view from a Christian persepctive)
• Prince Charles on Darwin Trail (Galapagos)
  
• Blog for Darwin (site of the forthcoming Blog Carnival)
• Darwin 2009, Cambridge
• BBC Darwin Season
• Mathematical Poetry ... 7 steps forward
• Horniman Museum Photography Competition (Darwin related)
• British Science Association Events 2009: in many regions of Britain
• Mslexia 2009 Poetry Competition. Judge: Ruth Padel

Carnival: 'I and the Bird'

Thank you to Vickie for including my Snow White postcard in the latest I & the Bird Carnival. Do take a look at some of the colourful avian 'floats' from all over the world. The 'A' places include the African Plains, the Amazon, Arizona and Australia ... and that is just the beginning.