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Lough Swilly
Lough Swilly () in Ireland is a glacial fjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of the Inishowen Peninsula and the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal. Along with Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour it is one of three glacial fjords in Ireland. Name Both Lough Swilly () and the adjoining River Swilly () have the same derivation, and are sometimes associated with a legendary multi-eyed sea monster, ''Suileach'', that was reputedly killed by Saint Colmcille (521–597). In ''The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places'' (1900), the historian Patrick Weston Joyce writes that ''súil'' may refer to whirlpools or to eyes and that ''suileach'' means "abounding in eyes or whirlpools". Geography and ecology Located on the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal, the northern extremities of the lough are marked by Fanad Head with its lighthouse and Dunaff Head. Towns situated on the lough include Buncrana on Inishowen and Rathmullan on the western side. At the southern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small border with the rest of the Republic. It is named after the town of Donegal (town), Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconnell or Tirconaill (), after Tyrconnell, the historical territory on which it was based. Donegal County Council is the local government in the Republic of Ireland, local council and Lifford is the county town. The population was 167,084 at the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census. Name County Donegal is named after the town of Donegal (town), Donegal () in the south of the county. It has also been known by the alternative name County Tyrconnell or Tirconaill (, meaning 'Land of Conall Gulban, Conall'). The latter was its official name between 1922 and 1927. This is in reference to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Londonderry And Lough Swilly Railway
The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company (The L&LSR, the Swilly) was an Irish public transport and freight company that operated in parts of County Londonderry and County Donegal between 1853 and 2014. Incorporated in June 1853, it once operated 99 miles of railways. It began the transition to bus and road freight services in 1929. It closed its last railway line in July 1953 but continued to operate bus services under the name Lough Swilly Bus Company until April 2014, becoming the oldest railway company established in the Victorian era to continue trading as a commercial concern into the 21st century. Following a High Court petition by HM Revenue and Customs, the company went into liquidation and operated its final bus services on 19 April 2014. History The railway was initially planned as the Derry and Lough Swilly Railway Company when an application for incorporation was filed in 1852, after spurning the construction of a canal network to connect the two inlets. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzantine, Islamic science, Islamic, and Science in the Renaissance, Western European science. The first was his astronomical treatise now known as the ''Almagest'', originally entitled ' (, ', ). The second is the ''Geography (Ptolemy), Geography'', which is a thorough discussion on maps and the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian physics, Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day. This is sometimes known as the ' (, 'On the Effects') but more commonly known as the ' (from the Koine Greek meaning 'four books'; ). The Catholic Church promoted his work, which included the only mathematically sound geocentric model of the Sola ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grianán Ailigh
The Grianán of Aileach ( ; ), sometimes anglicised as Greenan Ely or, locally, as Greenan Fort, is a hillfort atop the high Greenan Mountain at Inishowen in County Donegal, Ireland. The main structure is a 19th-century reconstruction of a stone ringfort, thought to have been built by the Northern Uí Néill, in the sixth or seventh century CE; although there is evidence that the site had been in use before the fort was built. It has been identified as the seat of the Kingdom of Ailech and one of the royal sites of Gaelic Ireland. The wall is about thick and high. Inside it has three terraces, which are linked by steps, and two long passages within it. Originally, there would have been buildings inside the ringfort. Just outside it are the remains of a well and a tumulus. By the 12th century, the Kingdom of Ailech had become embattled and lost a fair amount of territory to the invading Normans. According to Irish literature, the ringfort was mostly destroyed by Muirchert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such a device was called an automotive, automobile, locomotive, or fish torpedo; colloquially, a ''fish''. The term ''torpedo'' originally applied to a variety of devices, most of which would today be called mines. From about 1900, ''torpedo'' has been used strictly to designate a self-propelled underwater explosive device. While the 19th-century battleship had evolved primarily with a view to engagements between armored warships with large-caliber guns, the invention and refinement of torpedoes from the 1860s onwards allowed small torpedo boats and other lighter surface vessels, submarines/submersibles, even improvised fishing boats or frogmen, and later light aircraft, to destroy large ships without the need of large guns, though somet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naval Mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel mine, anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are deposited and left to wait until, depending on their fuzing, they are triggered by the approach of or contact with any vessel. Naval mines can be used offensively, to hamper enemy shipping movements or lock vessels into a harbour; or defensively, to create "safe" zones protecting friendly sea lanes, harbours, and naval assets. Mines allow the minelaying force commander to concentrate warships or defensive assets in mine-free areas giving the adversary three choices: undertake a resource-intensive and time-consuming minesweeping effort, accept the casualties of challenging the minefield, or use the unmined waters where the greatest concentration of enemy firepower will be encountered. Although international law requires signatory nations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brent Goose
The brant or brent goose (''Branta bernicla'') is a small goose of the genus ''Branta''. There are three subspecies, all of which winter along temperate-zone sea-coasts and breed on the high-Arctic tundra. The Brent oilfield was named after the species. Taxonomy The brant was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Anas bernicla''. Linnaeus specified the type locality as Europe but in 1761 restricted it to Sweden. The brant is now one of six species placed in the genus ''Branta'' that was introduced in 1769 by the Austrian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli. The genus name ''Branta'' is a Latinised form of Old Norse ''brandgás'', "burnt (black) goose". The specific epithet ''bernicla'' is Medieval Latin for barnacle. The brant and the similar barnacle goose were previously considered to be the same species and believed to be the same creature as the barnacle. That myth c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greylag Goose
The greylag goose (''Anser anser'') is a species of large goose in the waterfowl family Anatidae and the type species of the genus ''Anser (bird), Anser''. It has mottled and barred grey and white plumage and an orange beak and pink legs. A large bird, it measures between in length, with an average weight of . Its distribution is widespread, with birds from the north of its range in Europe and Asia often Bird migration, migrating southwards to spend the winter in warmer places, although many populations are resident, even in the north. It is the ancestor of most breeds of domestic goose, having been domesticated at least as early as 1360 BCE. The genus name and specific epithet are from ''anser'', the Latin for "goose". In the USA, its name has been spelled "graylag". Greylag geese travel to their northerly breeding grounds in spring, nesting on moorlands, in marshes, around lakes and on coastal islands. They normally mate for life and nest on the ground among vegetation. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barnacle Goose
The barnacle goose (''Branta leucopsis'') is a species of goose that belongs to the genus ''Branta'' of black geese, which contains species with extensive black in the plumage, distinguishing them from the grey ''Anser (genus), Anser'' species. Despite its superficial similarity to the brant goose, genetic analysis has shown its closest relative is the cackling goose. Taxonomy and naming The barnacle goose was first Biological classification, classified taxonomically by Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1803. ''Branta'' is a Latinised form of Old Norse ''Brandgás'', "burnt [black] goose" and the specific epithet is from the Ancient Greek ''leukos'' "white", and ''opsis'' "faced". In the mediaeval period, the barnacle goose and the similar brant goose were not distinguished, and Barnacle goose myth, were formerly believed to spawn from the goose barnacle. This gave rise to the English name of the barnacle goose and the scientific name of the brant goose. The barnacle myth can be date ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greater White-fronted Goose
The greater white-fronted goose (''Anser albifrons'') is a species of goose, closely related to the smaller lesser white-fronted goose (''A. erythropus''). The greater white-fronted goose is Bird migration, migratory, breeding in northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia, and winters farther south in North America, Europe and Asia. It is named for the patch of white feathers bordering the base of its bill: ''albifrons'' comes from the Latin "white" and "forehead". In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it has been known as the white-fronted goose; in North America it is known as the greater white-fronted goose (or "greater whitefront"), and this name is also increasingly adopted internationally. Even more distinctive are the salt-and-pepper markings on the breast of adult birds, which is why the goose is colloquially called the "specklebelly" in North America. Description Greater white-fronted geese are in length, have a wingspan, and weigh . They have bright orange le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whooper Swan
The whooper swan ( /ˈhuːpə(ɹ) swɒn/ "hooper swan"; ''Cygnus cygnus''), also known as the common swan, is a large northern hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, and the type species for the genus '' Cygnus''. Taxonomy Francis Willughby and John Ray's ''Ornithology'' of 1676 referred to this swan as "the Elk, Hooper, or wild Swan". It was one of the many bird species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in the 1758 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae'', where it was given the binomial name of ''Anas cygnus''. The species name is from ''cygnus'', the Latin for "swan". Description The whooper swan is similar in appearance to Bewick's swan. It is larger, however, at a length of and a wingspan of . The weight is typically in the range of , with an average of for males and for females. The verified record mass was for a wintering male from Denmark. It is considered to be amongst the heaviest flying birds. Among standard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birdwatching
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or a telescope, by listening for bird sounds, watching public webcams, or by viewing smart bird feeder cameras. Most birdwatchers pursue this activity for recreational or social reasons, unlike ornithologists, who engage in the study of birds using formal scientific methods. Birding, birdwatching, and twitching The first recorded use of the term ''birdwatcher'' was in 1712 by William Oldsworth. The term ''birding'' was also used for the practice of ''fowling'' or hunting with firearms as in Shakespeare's '' The Merry Wives of Windsor'' (1602): "She laments sir... her husband goes this morning a-birding." The terms ''birding'' and ''birdwatching'' are today used by some interchangeably, although some participants prefer ''birding'', partly because ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
