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Severn Beach
Severn Beach is a village on the Severn Estuary in South Gloucestershire, England. The eastern portal of the Severn Tunnel is on the outskirts of the village. The Severn footpathon the sea wallis part of the Severn Way that leads from Gloucester, Slimbridge and the Second Severn Crossing. Extensive sea defences have been constructed and this provides a popular walkway along its length. Originally, the Severn Way finished at Severn Beach, but it has been extended to Bristol. The village is part of the Filton and Bradley Stoke Parliamentary constituency and is represented by the Conservative MP, Jack Lopresti. History Before the Great Western Railway arrived in 1900, the area was farmland. In 1922, the village became a seaside resort with a swimming pool called the "Blue Lagoon", a boating lake, dozens of fun-fair stalls, donkey rides (on grass), mostly by local entrepreneur Robert Stride. Many people came from nearby Bristol because Severn Beach had less strict licensing la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Gloucestershire
South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming part of the northern Bristol suburbs. The unitary authority also covers many outlying villages and hamlets. The southern part of its area falls within the Greater Bristol urban area surrounding the city of Bristol. South Gloucestershire was created in 1996 to replace the Northavon district of the abolished county of Avon. It is separate from Gloucestershire County Council, but is part of the ceremonial county and shares Gloucestershire's Lord Lieutenant (the Sovereign's representative to the county). Because of its history as part of the county of Avon, South Gloucestershire works closely with the other unitary authorities that took over when that county was abolished, including shared services such as Avon Fire and Rescue Service and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earless Seal
The earless seals, phocids or true seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal lineage, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae (). They are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from the fur seals and sea lions of the family Otariidae. Seals live in the oceans of both hemispheres and, with the exception of the more tropical monk seals, are mostly confined to polar, subpolar, and temperate climates. The Baikal seal is the only species of exclusively freshwater seal. Taxonomy and evolution Evolution The earliest known fossil earless seal is ''Noriphoca gaudini'' from the late Oligocene or earliest Miocene ( Aquitanian) of Italy. Other early fossil phocids date from the mid-Miocene, 15 million years ago in the north Atlantic. Until recently, many researchers believed that phocids evolved separately from otariids and odobenids; and that they evolved from otter-like animals, such as ''Potamotherium'', which inhabited ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Western Railway (train Operating Company)
Great Western Railway (GWR) is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the Greater Western passenger railway franchise. It manages 197 stations and its trains call at over 270. GWR operates long-distance inter-city services along the Great Western Main Line to and from the West of England and South Wales, inter-city services from London to the West Country via the Reading–Taunton line, and the ''Night Riviera'' sleeper service between London and Penzance. It also provides commuter and outer-suburban services from its London terminus at Paddington to West London, the Thames Valley region including parts of Berkshire, parts of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire; and regional services throughout the West of England and South Wales to the South coast of England. Great Western Railway also provides and maintains the Electrostar Class 387 fleet for Heathrow Express. The company began operating in February 1996 as Great Western Trains, as part o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pilning Railway Station
Pilning railway station is a minor station on the South Wales Main Line near Pilning, South Gloucestershire, England. It is from and is the last station on the English side before the Severn Tunnel through to Wales. Its three letter station code is PIL. It is managed by Great Western Railway, who provide the two train services per week from the station. The station was opened by the Bristol and South Wales Union Railway in 1863, but was resited in 1886 when the Severn Tunnel was opened. The station had an extensive goods yard, boasting one of the largest railway communities in the Bristol area, and operated a motorail service to Wales. In 1928 the original station was reopened on the Severn Beach Line, which allowed passengers and freight to reach Avonmouth Docks, though this only lasted until 1964. The goods yard was closed in 1965, and the station buildings later demolished, with very little in the way of facilities. Passenger services also declined, to two trains per day ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Severn Beach Railway Station
Severn Beach railway station serves the village of Severn Beach, England. This is the terminus of the Severn Beach Line. This station is north west from Bristol Temple Meads on the Severn Beach Line. The station is managed by Great Western Railway, who are also the sole provider of trains serving the station. History The railway reached Severn Beach in 1900, but was at first used only for goods traffic to . A platform was built beside the line at Severn Beach by the Great Western Railway in 1922, and a bay platform added to the west for excursion traffic, with terminating passenger services from Bristol starting on 26 May 1924, subsequently extended to Pilning in a loop back to Bristol via from 9 July 1928. By 1924 a brick concourse had been built perpendicular to the bay platform, providing a ticket office, the station master's office, toilets and a ladies' waiting room. The station master and keeper of the level crossing were also provided with houses, while to the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conger
''Conger'' ( ) is a genus of marine congrid eels. It includes some of the largest types of eels, ranging up to 2 m (6 ft) or more in length, in the case of the European conger. Large congers have often been observed by divers during the day in parts of the Mediterranean Sea, and both European and American congers are sometimes caught by fishermen along the European and North American Atlantic coasts. The life histories of most conger eels are poorly known. Based on collections of their small leptocephalus larvae, the American conger eel has been found to spawn in the southwestern Sargasso Sea, close to the spawning areas of the Atlantic freshwater eels. "Conger" or "conger eel" is sometimes included in the common names of species of the family Congridae, including members of this genus. Description Congers have wide mouths with sturdy teeth, usually a variant of gray or black in coloration. They have no scales. Their body weight can reach over 57 kilograms (125 l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alcid
An auk or alcid is a bird of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins, and murrelets. The word "auk" is derived from Icelandic ''álka'', from Old Norse ''alka'' (auk), from Proto-Germanic *''alkǭ'' (sea-bird, auk). The family contains 25 extant or recently extinct species that are divided into 11 genera. Apart from the extinct great auk, all auks can fly, and are excellent swimmers (appearing to "fly") and divers, but their walking appears clumsy. Several species have different English names in Europe and North America. The two species known as murres in North America are called guillemots in Europe, and the species called little auk in Europe is referred to as dovekie in North America. Description Auks are superficially similar to penguins, having black-and-white colours, upright posture, and some of their habits. Nevertheless, they are not closely related to penguins, but rather are believed to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of eleven genera. They are slender, lightly built birds with long, forked tails, narrow wings, long bills, and relatively short legs. Most species are pale grey above and white below, with a contrasting black cap to the head, but the marsh terns, the Inca tern, and some noddies have dark plumage for at least part of the year. The sexes are identical in appearance, but young birds are readily distinguishable from adults. Terns have a non-breeding plumage, which usually involves a white forehead and much-reduced black cap. Terns are long-lived birds and are relatively free from natural predators and parasites; most species are declining in numbers due directly or indirectly to human activities, including habitat loss, pollution, disturbance, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skua
The skuas are a group of predatory seabirds with seven species forming the genus ''Stercorarius'', the only genus in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas, the long-tailed skua, the Arctic skua, and the pomarine skua are called jaegers in North American English. The English word "skua" comes from the Faroese name for the great skua, , with the island of Skúvoy renowned for its colony of that bird. The general Faroese term for skuas is . The word "jaeger" is derived from the German word , meaning "hunter". The genus name ''Stercorarius'' is Latin and means "of dung"; because the food disgorged by other birds when pursued by skuas was once thought to be excrement. Skuas nest on the ground in temperate and Arctic regions, and are long-distance migrants. They have even been sighted at the South Pole. Biology and habits Outside the breeding season, skuas take fish, offal, and carrion. Many practice kleptoparasitism, which comprises up to 95% of the feedin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's North Pole. Owing to Earth's axial tilt of 23.439281°, winter in the Northern Hemisphere lasts from the December solstice (typically December 21 UTC) to the March equinox (typically March 20 UTC), while summer lasts from the June solstice through to the September equinox (typically on 23 September UTC). The dates vary each year due to the difference between the calendar year and the astronomical year. Within the Northern Hemisphere, oceanic currents can change the weather patterns that affect many factors within the north coast. Such events include El Niño–Southern Oscillation. Trade winds blow from east to west just above the equator. The winds pull surface water with them, creating currents, which flow westward due to the Corio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balearic Shearwater
The Balearic shearwater (''Puffinus mauretanicus'') is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family ''Procellariidae''. ''Puffinus'' is a New Latin loanword based on the English "puffin" and its variants, that referred to the cured carcass of the fat nestling of the Manx shearwater, a former delicacy. The specific ''mauretanicus'' refers to Mauretania, an old name for an area of North Africa roughly corresponding to Morocco and Algeria. Taxonomy The Balearic shearwater was formerly described in 1921 by the English ornithologist Percy Lowe. He treated it as a subspecies of the Manx shearwater and coined the trinomial name ''Puffinus puffinus mauretanicus''. The Balearic shearwater was long regarded a subspecies of the Manx shearwater. Following an initial split, it was held to be a subspecies of the "Mediterranean shearwater" for nearly ten more years, until it was resolved to be a distinct species, separate from the yelkouan shearwater. It is the last taxon of the ''Puffinu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
