Venice floods Dec 2020

I was in Venice in Oct 2020. I knew there was a flood defence system to prevent the waters from the lagoon overflowing into the city. It had been tested for the first time in July 2020, after a long delay. Large yellow gates are situated in 3 places at the entrance to the lagoon (image from Guardian)

The gates were tested again in early Oct, just before my visit. So I was surprised to read there was a big flood in Venice just 2 months after my visit, on 8 Dec. It seems the gates need 48 hour to be activated and the authorities were caught off guard. The weather forecast had been inaccurate.

And my photo from 8 Oct -

Needless to say the locals are very angry. They are already suffering from the lack of tourists due to the Covid pandamic, and now the flood has added to their woes.

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UPDATE, THOUGH NOT DIRECTLY RELATED TO FLOODS

March 2021

Venice bans cruise ships from historic centre

Italian authorities have approved a ban on cruise ships entering the historic centre of Venice.

The country's culture minister said that the decision came in response to a request from UN cultural body Unesco.

Large ships will now have to dock at the city's industrial port until a permanent solution is found.

Critics argue the ships cause pollution and erode the foundations of the city, which suffers from regular flooding.

Italian ministers agreed that large cruise and container ships would no longer be able to enter the city's Giudecca canal, which leads to the historic St Mark's Square.

Photos from BBC article -

Nelson's statue removed from Bridgetown, Barbados

 In Feb 2020 I was in Bridgetown, Barbados, and took photos of Nelson's statue in Trafalgar Square, opposite the Parliament buildings. I wrote "Statue of Admiral Lord Nelson. It was erected on 22 March 1813 in the area known as Trafalgar Square, opposite Parliament Buildings. The statue predates Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square in London by nearly 30 years. Bajans (Barbadians) are grateful to Nelson due to his victory at Cape Trafalgar in 1805. This meant Barbados would not become a French West Indian colony, which would have been the alternative if Nelson had not gained victory for the British off Cape Trafalgar on the southern coast of Spain. This battle was the most decisive naval victory of the wars. It was also important for trade routes from Britain to Barbados."

So I was really surprised to read in the news in Nov that Nelson's statue has been removed. Apparently in September Barbados announced plans to replace Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as its head of state and move on from its colonial past. 

In 1999 Trafalgar Square was renamed National Heroes Square, although Nelson is not on the list of Barbados’ 10 National Heroes. 

In 2020 the Black Lives Matter campaign sprung up worldwide after a black man whilst being arrested by a white policemen in the US. Lots of statues in England were removed if they represented someone who had connections with the slave trade during colonial times. 

So Nelson's statue in Bridgetown was a particular target, as it was a vestige of colonial rule, made even more controversial because of Nelson’s defence of the slave trade upon which Barbados’ plantation economy was based.

The bronze statue was put up in 1813 to commemorate Nelson and the British Royal Navy’s victory over the French and Spanish in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The Caribbean was an important battleground in the Napoleonic Wars. There were 3 big colonisers, Britain, France and Spain.

The statue will be housed at the Barbados Museum in the Historic Garrison Area.

I wonder if anything will happen to Nelson's Dockyard on Antigua, which I visited in 2019. 

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UPDATE

I was in Barbados again in January 2022 and managed to take a photo of the empty plinth where Nelson's statue used to be.

Another change - In 2021, the name Barbados Police Service was selected to be the new name for the Royal Barbados Police Force and replaced the old name when Barbados became a republic on November 30, 2021.

Autumn colours 2020

Autumn 2020 in England has been particularly good for the colours. This is due to the weather over the preceding months. An article in the Guardian forecast this in early Oct : "UK set for burst of vivid autumn colours after sunny September. A spectacular and prolonged autumn display of colour is predicted for the UK’s parks and gardens thanks to good sunny spells in the spring and September and some nurturing dampness in the summer. The golds, reds, purples, russets and oranges that provide a burst of joy before the winter months are likely to be particularly vivid this year, the National Trust said."

It is the length of daylight hours that is the primary trigger for trees to begin the process of shutting down for the winter. The leaves change colours before they are shed. Weather conditions through the summer and early autumn affect the rate of leaf loss and intensity of colour. The clocks went back one hour on 25th Oct. 

The green chlorophyll pigments, which help the leaves produce sugars from sunlight, break down to reveal a dazzling rainbow of yellows, oranges, reds and russets. See more about the colours on this BBC blog.

These leaves had already fallen by 19 Oct and there were lots of berries:

I also saw an abundance of fungi in many places

The greatest variety and abundance of mushrooms is usually found in October. This abundance may be due to trees transferring sap and sugar reserves into their root systems for storage during winter dormancy.

As someone recently said on tv, autumn is the time when nature is having a party.

Hornimans Park had been growing pumpkins and gourds all summer and this was the result -

Some of the gourds before being harvested -

A swan family on Regent's Canal. The cygnets stay with the parents until next Spring -

A green woodpecker feeding on grapes (and my blog about this)

Hampton Court and Bushey Park -

Addington Hills -

One of my best times for autumn colours was when I was in New Hamphire in the USA. See my blog.

Walthamstow Wetlands

Shortly after I went to Walthamstow Marshes, I discovered that the Walthamstow Wetlands lie just to the north. They looked quite extensive on the map, so I put them on my "to do" list.

The first map shows the general area, with Walthamstow Marshes, and Markfield Beam Engine and Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum, which are all places I have visited.

This map shows a close up of the Walthamstow reservoirs -

I went in the main, northern entrance, shown as Walthamstow Wetlands on the above map. A boardwalk runs alongside a small branch of the River Lea to the 1894 Engine House, now a cafe. The building used to house the steam engine which pumped water through the reservoirs.

The railway line runs right behind the building -

I then walked along East Warwick Reservoir to the old Coppermill. There is a grassy pedestrian path at high level alongside the reservoir, and a lower path for cycling and jogging alongside the Coppermill Stream.

The wetlands are a popular place for bird watching, but all the birds were too far away to see easily. There are bird hides but these are currently closed due to the Covid-19 restrictions. The old coppermill is also closed -

See more on Walthamstow Wetlands page. 

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Woodpecker eating grapes 2020

 Four years ago in 2016 I posted a video of a woodpecker eating grapes. Now I have another similar video, again showing a green woodpecker eating grapes. It is interesting to see that the bird is quite well camouflaged against the leaves -

Various websites say that the green woodpeckers eat ants : the RSPB says they eat "ants, ants and more ants". The Woodland Trust says "The green woodpecker’s diet is dominated by ants. It catches the insects by probing the ground with its powerful beak and sucking them up with its long, sticky tongue. Other invertebrates may be taken occasionally."; the Wildlife Trust says "Look out for it hopping about your lawn, searching for ants and invertebrates to eat."; Garden Birds "feed on insects, such as ants, beetles and caterpillars". None of the websites mention the green woodpecker eating fruit.

I'm not sure if this one is between juvenile and adult as it seems to have some spots, and is possibly a female as I think it has a black moustache (males have a black moustache with a red centre). 

from Garden Birds

Video of the Green Woodpecker eating grapes

Squirrels eating corncobs

 Two videos of grey squirrels in London eating corncobs.

The first was taken in Oct 2016. The morning sun illuminates the squirrel -

The 2nd was taken in Sept 2020 -

Lido di Jesolo over 60 years

Lido di Jesolo is a seaside resort town in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Italy and is on the Adriatic Sea. It has a 15 km long beach.

I first went there in 1964. We stayed for 2 weeks and did various tours, such as to Venice and the Dolomites. My next visit was a day trip in 1987 and my most recent visit was also a day trip, in 2020.

Nowadays the entire length of beach is totally lined with hotels. Each hotel surrounding the beach has its own private section of beach with tables, umbrellas and sun loungers for that hotel only. When I visited in mid Oct 2020, which was the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, all the hotels were closed, and the beach was free of tables and chairs. And there were only a couple of beach cafes open.

In 1964 we stayed at the Hotel Principe Palace. It was founded in 1947 and undergone major renovations over the years. On my visit in 2020 I went to look at the hotel. 

Mum & I on the balcony 1964

Relaxing outside the hotel 1964

2020

The beach is composed of yellow Dolomitic sand. The Dolomites are a mountain range located in northeastern Italy. They form part of the Southern Limestone Alps. They extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley. I saw the River Adige in Verona, it is the second longest river in Italy, after the Po. Map of the Dolomites and the River Adige in Verona -

And looking at the Dolomites from Venice in 2020 -

The beach at Lido di Jesolo -

Looking at the above 2 photos, there are trees and large gaps between hotels. Now, there are far more hotels with little space between them.

1987

There is now a paved walkway between the beach and the hotels. The empty beach in Oct 2020 -

See my blog on Venice.