Titchwell Marsh is an English nature reserve owned and managed by the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Its 171 hectares (420 acres)
on the north coast of Norfolk, about 8 km (5.0 mi) east of the seaside
resort of Hunstanton, include reed beds, saltmarshes, a freshwater
lagoon, a sandy beach, and woodland. The reserve is important for some
scarce breeding birds, such as pied avocets on the islands, and western
marsh harriers, Eurasian bitterns and bearded reedlings in the reeds. It
has regularly attracted rarities, as its location is important for
migrating birds, and shelters the endangered European water vole.
Facilities include three bird hides, a seawatching platform, two nature
trails, and a visitor centre. In 2010 and 2011 the banks around the
freshwater lagoon were improved and the brackish lagoon was converted to
tidal saltmarsh (pictured), a more effective barrier to encroachment by
the sea. Titchwell Marsh is archaeologically significant, with artefacts
dating to the Upper Paleolithic, and has remains of military
constructions from both world wars.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titchwell_Marsh>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1856:
Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issued a Warrant under the
Royal sign-manual that established the Victoria Cross, originally to
recognise acts of valour by British military personnel during the
Crimean War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross>
1891:
Liliʻuokalani, the last monarch and only queen regnant of the
Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, ascended to the throne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liliuokalani>
1944:
World War II: At least 38 people were killed and about a dozen
injured when the Polish village of Koniuchy (present-day Kaniūkai,
Lithuania) was attacked by Soviet partisan units.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koniuchy_massacre>
1967:
The Mantra-Rock Dance, called the "ultimate high" of the hippie
era, took place in San Francisco, featuring Swami Bhaktivedanta, Janis
Joplin, The Grateful Dead, and Allen Ginsberg (poster pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantra-Rock_Dance>
2006:
India's Irfan Pathan became the first bowler to take a Test
cricket hat-trick in the opening over of a match.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irfan_Pathan>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
receptacle:
1. A container.
2. (botany) The part of the flower stalk (peduncle or pedicel) to which the
floral parts are attached; a thalamus, a torus.
3. In the Asteraceae (aster or sunflower family), the end of the peduncle
to which all of the florets of the flower head are attached.
4. (phycology) A structure at the end of a branch of an alga containing
conceptacles (reproductive organs).
5. (electricity, US) A contact device installed at an outlet for the
connection of an attachment plug and flexible cord to supply portable
appliances or equipment.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/receptacle>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
When a person doesn’t understand something, he feels internal
discord: however he doesn’t search for that discord in himself, as he
should, but searches outside of himself. Thence a war develops with that
which he doesn’t understand.
--Anton Chekhov
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov>