Penguin - Colchester Zoo

Colchester Zoo in Essex, England has some of the best big cat and primate collections in Europe. Colchester Zoo is supported by a charitable organisation called Action For The Wild. The charity is dedicated to assisting conservation projects worldwide through the provision of both financial and technical assistance

Tulip or Tulipa

The tulip is actually not a Dutch flower as many people tend to believe.



The tulip, or "Lale" as it is called in Turkey, is a flower indigenous to Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and other parts of Central Asia. A Dutch ambassador in Turkey in the 16th century, who was also a great floral enthusiast, Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, got their very names because of their Persian origins. Tulips were brought to Europe in the 16th century; the word tulip, which earlier in English appeared in such forms as tulipa or tulipant, entered the language by way of French tulipe and its obsolete form tulipan or by way of Modern Latin tulīpa, from Ottoman Turkish tülbend, "muslin, gauze." The Turkish word for gauze, with which turbans can be wrapped, seems to have been used for the flower because a fully opened tulip was thought to resemble a turban.
source : Wikipedia

Spring

Spring begins on the 21st of March and lasts until 20th of June in the northern hemisphere. The northern hemisphere begins to warm significantly causing new plant growth to "spring forth," giving the season its name.



The first day of spring is the beginning of the new year, Nowruz, in the Iranian calendar. Most flowering plants bloom this time of year, in a long succession sometimes beginning even when snow is still on the ground, and continuing into early summer.
source : Wikipedia

Southwark Bridge

Southwark Bridge is an arch bridge for traffic linking Southwark and the City across the River Thames, in London, England. The bridge is sometimes nicknamed the "car park bridge" as coach drivers use it to park their vehicles.

Street Light

The first street in the world to be lit by electric light was Mosley Street, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The street was lit by Joseph Swan's incandescent lamp in February, 1879. Wabash, Indiana holds the title of being the second electrically-lit city in the world, which took place on February 2, 1880. Four 3,000 candlepower Brush arc lamps suspended over the courthouse rendered the town square "as light as midday." Kimberley, a city in the centre of South Africa, was the first city in Africa to have electric street lights - first lit on 1 September 1882. Timişoara, in present-day Romania, was the first city in mainland Europe to have electric public lighting on the 12th of November 1884. 731 lamps were used.

St Katharines Dock Dial - Sun Dial

This is a large equinoctial sundial in the form of a massive, 3.66 metres, stainless steel ring supported by three rigid chain link cables. The dial was designed by Wendy Taylor in 1973 and delineated by Christopher St J Daniels



The distinguishing characteristic of the equatorial dial (also called the equinoctial dial) is the planar surface that receives the shadow, which is exactly perpendicular to the gnomon's style.[8] This plane is called equatorial, because it is parallel to the equator of the Earth and of the celestial sphere. If the gnomon is fixed and aligned with the Earth's rotational axis, the sun's apparent rotation about the Earth casts a uniformly rotating sheet of shadow from the gnomon; this produces a uniformly rotating line of shadow on the equatorial plane. Since the sun rotates 360° in 24 hours, the hour-lines on an equatorial dial are all spaced 15° apart (360/24). The uniformity of their spacing makes this type of sundial easy to construct. Both sides of the equatorial dial must be marked, since the shadow will be cast from below in winter and from above in summer.
source : Wikipedia