Author: Chris Jefferies

I live in the west of England, worked in IT, and previously in biological science.

A glorious colour contrast

The climate has changed dramatically in the past, but it has always happened slowly, usually taking tens of thousands of years.

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Image of the day – 148

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

Click to enlarge

Here are two flowering plants with colours on opposite sides of the colour wheel. They’re very distant relatives; the yellow Narcissus (daffodil) is a monocot, the purply-blue Streptocarpus is a dicot. You can’t get much further apart in the family tree of flowering plants, but they look well together.

These two plants simply could not survive in one another’s home territory. The Narcissus needs plenty of moisture, produces leaves in late winter, is not troubled by frost, and flowers in the springtime. It also appreciates some bright sunshine.. Streptocarpus cannot take any degree of frost at all, and is touchy about water. Not enough and it will wilt and die, too much and… wait for it… It will wilt and die! It likes the soil to dry out completely and then have a real drenching, but do not water it again until the soil is really dry. It likes shade or partial shade, but not full sunshine.

Adaptation

The fact that these two plants like such different conditions is nothing to do with the fact they are very distant relatives. All plants growing in the wild are well adapted to the soil type, climate, other plants and animals of the places they inhabit. Natural selection over many, many generations will ensure that this is so. It’s only the survivors that will have a chance to produce seeds. By definition, the next generation comes only from the plants that survived the current generation. Survivors thrive; the rest die out.

Climate change

And this in turn is one of the challenges life faces in the changing climate we are creating. The climate has changed dramatically in the past, but it has always happened slowly, usually taking tens of thousands of years to shift from ice age to interglacial, or from desert to semi-desert to grassland to forest. A species may seem to move north or south, east or west, remaining in the climate zone that suits it best. But what is actually happening is that as a climate zone shifts geographically, conditions become less suitable in one area and more hospitable in another. Perhaps the species manages to survive a little further north than before but struggles and dies on the southern edge of its old range.

This process takes time, but the global warming trends we see due to greenhouse gas releases are many times faster than any natural climate change. Populations cannot respond fast enough under such circumstances; they go into decline and die out – the species may then become extinct, gone forever.

See also:

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Christmas cactus
Firethorn berries
A rose in the rain
Climate change – What can I do?

Bare trees along the horizon

Trying to make out any details when the sun is shining in your face is really difficult. But if you turn around so the sun is behind you, shining over your shoulder, it illuminates everything you can see.

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Image of the day – 147

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

Click to enlarge

This photo was taken on 6th March, it was a grey evening, the sun had set and the only hint remaining was a touch of pinkness in the areas not shrouded in cloud. The ground around me as I walked was already well into dusk.

Details remaining visible

The only details visible were in the edges of the cloud against the fading sky, and the branches of the leafless trees. But what exquisite details those were! Delicate differences in the shades of grey in the clouds, and a wonderful filigree pattern in the branches, varying from one tree to the next.

It’s a subdued scene, still and inactive, but delightful for all that.

Light and dark

In broad daylight the picture would have been so different! The grassy fields this side of the row of trees would have been vibrant green, the sky would have been bright blue and the clouds white or perhaps grey with white edges.

Another kind of light and dark

If you follow Journeys of Heart and Mind regularly you’ll know that I do my best to follow Jesus. I’m not going to say much about that here, maybe I’ll write another article to explain a bit more.

But I will mention here that this image reminds me that Jesus talked to his followers about light and darkness. Imagine the view in the photo if the sun had been visible just above the trees. The brightness would have been quite blinding, trying to make out any details when the sun is shining in your face is really difficult. But if you turn around so the sun is behind you, shining over your shoulder, it illuminates everything you can see and the detail is crisp and sharp, things are well defined, there’s no glare, there are no shadows unless you look to one side or down at your feet.

Light can dazzle us and hide things from view, or it can make things much, much clearer. It all depends which way you look.

Jesus is like that too, I find. If I look towards him I am dazzled indeed! If instead I look towards the places he’s illuminating, I can see everything very clearly. I need to do both, I need to be dazzled by him, but I also need the clarity provided by his light as it falls on the world around me. There’s a double benefit, he dazzles me, but he also informs me.

See also:

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

You might like these posts too…

Dark sky, bright light
Mist arising
OTKC 05: Let Your Light Shine
An old survivor

Terraced border at Blenheim

Much of this slope is being managed by rows of stones so that each section of soil will have a reduced slope. Trailing plants like Aubretia can be planted behind the stones.

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Image of the day – 146

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

What to do with a sloping garden

Click to enlarge

There are many things that need managing in gardens great and small; one of these things is a slope. If your garden is on a hillside and the slope is steep, you will need to create a winding path to exchange steepness for distance, or as an alternative, build some steps. If you have a sloping flower bed you can make a bank and plant ground cover plants to stabilise the soil and reduce erosion, or you could build a rock garden.

Terracing

In this photo, you can see the initial phase in construction of a third way of dealing with a sloping border – a terraced border. Much of this slope is being managed by rows of stones so that each section of soil will have a reduced slope. Trailing plants like Aubretia can be planted behind the stones, or low shrubs or herbaceous plants could be planted in the lower tiers with tall plants and small trees such as Acer cultivars at the back. The terraced area in the photo will look lovely as it becomes established with some mature plants. Perhaps I’ll go back in future to take more photos for comparison.

A rockery

A rockery would be designed differently, the stones would be carefully placed in a naturalistic way with alpines growing amongst them, but not hiding them. Again, taller bushes and small trees would fit well at the top, concealing the fact the the ‘outcrop’ of rock is of limited height. A well-built rockery should respect overall angles of bedding planes, even though no such planes really exist. But making it look as if they do can give a fine impression of structure. Each stone needs to be angled in two dimensions to fit with angles of all the others. They must all lean backward or forward at the same angle, and they must lie from side to side in agreement as well.

It’s usually best for the stones to lie backwards rather than forwards, they will be much more stable and better supported, but they will also proved better opportunities for planting after the stones are all in place. Careful planting can hide the gaps between some of the stones, giving the appearance of much larger blocks of stone. It’s very convincing if done well!

A hillside

If the garden is large enough, a winding path with several terraced or rockery sections (perhaps both) can be very pleasing. This is a great way of using a hillside, though few of us can afford such an expansive space. But it’s a great idea for shopping centres, university campuses, industrial sites, and parks where there is already a natural slope large enough for this kind of feature.

See also:

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Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

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An old survivor
Image of the day – 40

Cease fires and talks

Effectively, action in the Black Sea is practically over anyway. Ukraine has sunk half of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and the survivors have fled to the Caspian Sea. (Ukraine 1, Russia 0.)

Forward look, ukraine – 5

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Larger view
(Wikimedia)

March 2025

Representatives of the American president, Donald Trump, have been talking with both Russian and Ukrainian representatives in an attempt to end the war. Trump repeatedly claims, ‘This war would never have happened if I’d been president’, and further claimed that he’d be able to end it in 24 hours once he was in office. The first claim cannot be tested, but no evidence has been presented as to how the war might have been averted. And the second claim was, at best, wishful thinking; Trump has had a lot longer than 24 hours but there’s still no sign of the war ending any time soon.

What is being discussed between the USA and Russia and between the USA and Ukraine is still only partly clear, but the best we can hope for in the near-term is some kind of Black Sea ceasefire and a 30-day stoppage of attacks on energy systems. It’s hardly the kind of complete ceasefire (‘end the killing’) that Donald Trump promised us!

But when you look a little deeper there are issues that would be obvious to anyone who is a good negotiator. Effectively, action in the Black Sea is practically over anyway. Ukraine has sunk half of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and the survivors have fled to the Caspian Sea. (Ukraine 1, Russia 0.) And Russia will wriggle and squirm endlessly to avoid an energy ceasefire. Putin wants to seem agreeable to the ceasefire to appease Trump, but he doesn’t want to actually sign on the dotted line because he thinks he’s winning the energy battle. (He’s not.) Nor are Trump’s offers to Putin entirely within his gift. No NATO countries involved? No Western troops in Ukraine? No more weapons or ammunition for Ukraine? Sorry Mr Trump, Europe will not necessarily do your bidding over this. French and British forces might be there sooner than you think. Macron is making announcements as I write; you cannot make a gift unless you’re holding it in your hand. (And you’re not holding it.)

What will happen next?

That is, of course, the big question. I can give my thoughts, but nothing is certain.

Let’s start with what we know.

  • If Putin is winning this war, he doing it in a very curious way. So far, his initial take-over bid was stopped and then substantially pushed back by Ukraine. He’s lost 900 000 troops, killed or seriously wounded. He’s lost the vast bulk of his armoured vehicles, tanks, trucks, ships in the Black Sea, artillery, radar equipment, anti aircraft missiles, and many aircraft and helicopters.
  • Energy infrastructure has been severely damaged in both countries, particularly electrical systems in Ukraine; and oil and gas production, transport, refining and storage facilities in Russia.
  • Militarily, Russia has been seriously weakened while Ukraine has become stronger. Ukraine develops and manufactures cruise missiles and drones that are flying further and further into Russian territory.
  • Ukraine is innovating rapidly, and faster than Russia. This is noticeable in the first person view (FPV) drone technology, but also in the longer distance technologies and in sea-drones.
  • Ukraine has focused on specific kinds of target to great effect, taking out much of Russia’s air defence, enabling a greater proportion of attacks to get through undetected.
  • There are clear signs that Ukraine is getting the upper hand along the lines of contact. For a long time, Russia has been making very slow, but continuous progress (though at very great cost). Recently there have been signs that Ukraine might get the upper hand, Russian progress has slowed almost everywhere, stalled in some places, and Ukraine has been able to take back some ground in several areas. This gadual reversal of Russian success will likely become faster as the summer proceeds.
  • The Russian economy is in a really poor state and slowly getting worse, not better. This too could well be a trend that will become a fatal crash within the next twelve months or so.

In terms of Trump’s efforts to curry favour with Russia and crush Ukraine – because that is how I interpret what is going on – there is an elephant in the room. It may not be a truly heavyweight elephant, but Europe (and I include the UK here, as well as other allies like Canada, Japan, Australia, South Korea) has no wish to stop supporting Ukraine. Continued supply of weapons, ammunition, electricity and financial help from Europe and her friends may just be something Trump cannot influence very much. He can make offers and promises to Putin, but can he force the rest of us into line? I have no doubt he’ll try, but at the same time I very much doubt he’ll succeed.

In summary

The short term prospects for Ukraine are more pain, more suffering, and significant struggles to deal with both Russia (miltarily) and America (politically).

But I do believe the longer term prospects are much brighter. Ukraine can become an important part of Europe, a member of the EU, with a strong economy and strong armed forces, contributing culturally, economically and acting in concert with other states bordering Russia as a bulwark against Russian expansionism.

Slava Ukraini! Heroyam slava!

See also:

Here are just three of the many sources of information out there.

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A view of ancient remains

Cirencester is the site of Britain’s second city in Roman times, Corinium … The row of trees beyond the lake is close to the Roman city wall.

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Image of the day – 145

What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every few days.

Click to enlarge

What’s in an image? And indeed what’s in a field? Let’s take it a stage at a time.

The Abbey

The grass in the foreground is part of one of Cirencester’s public parks, the Abbey Grounds. As the name suggests, this is part of the medieval abbey; the abbey buildings and the great abbey church are out of sight behind you in this view. All of those abbey remains are invisible, remaining as only foundations. After the dissolution of the abbeys by Henry VIII, the stonework was pulled down and re-used as building material as the town developed.

You are looking north-east. The first thing you can see beyond the grassed area is a stretch of water. This was dug by the monks to widen and deepen a branch of the River Churn to form a lake to supply fish. You will need to expand the image to see it clearly, it’s marked by benches, life buoys and low vegetation. The two figures in the extreme right are a good guide, they are just our side of the lake.

Abbey House

Also behind us in this view stood Abbey House, demolished in the 1960s. The Abbey land was later owned by the Chester-Master family who built the house, and the park was their private garden. There is one remaining structure from that time in the photo; the large mound at the extreme right covers the ice house built and used by the Chester-Masters.

The Romans

Cirencester is the site of Britain’s second city in Roman times – Corinium, or to give it its full name, Corinium Dobunnorum. The row of trees beyond the lake is close to the Roman city wall. Roman stone was also robbed to build structures in the later town, but out of site to the right of the ice house is a substantial bank and underlying that, the remaining Roman masonry. Some of it has been excavated and remains visible today. If you are visiting the town it’s well worth a look.

While we’re thinking of the Romans, the Abbey Grounds lie entirely within the Roman city and there’s almost certainly more to be discovered here. Just beyond the row of trees mentioned above is another branch of the River Churn. This, and the city wall would together have formed a barrier sufficient to force all traffic in and out of the city through the five large city gates.

Tar Barrow Field

The rising land beyond the line of trees up to the woodland along the sky line is known locally as Tar Barrow Field. ‘Tar’ is probably a corruption of ‘Thor’. The barrows would have been Neolithic or possibly Saxon, but the Medieval inhabitants clearly thought the Norse god Thor was involved in some way. There was also a Roman temple in this field and that would have been reached by a road or footpath from the Roman gate over what is today London Road.

Take a look yourself

If you are visiting Cirencester and interested in the town’s background and history, consider visiting the Corinium Museum (linked below). In addition to checking out the museum itself, you can pick up leaflets about historical sites to visit around the town.

See also:

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!