Fire Amoeba (Incendimoeba cascadensis) Photo from https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fire-amoeba-record-breaking-heat

Dear Readers, this week scientist  Angela Oliverio of Syracuse University revealed that an amoeba had been found which could survive temperatures of 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit), ten degrees Celsius higher than the previous record. This is really quite something. One of the main problems with high temperatures for most organisms is that at a certain point, the structure of the proteins in the body starts to unravel, meaning that they can’t do their essential jobs – proteins are involved in practically every major function in the body. This is known as ‘denaturing’, and to see a classic example, just crack an egg into a hot frying pan – as the proteins in the egg white unfold and become ineffective, they turn white. So to find a complex organism that can live in temperatures this high (found in the hot springs of Lassen Volcanic National Park in California) was quite something. In the photo above, the amoeba is splitting into two organisms, something that stops at 63 degrees Celsius. At 64 degrees Celsius, the amoeba stops moving and forms itself into a protective cyst but is still clearly alive.

Amoebae are quite advanced animals – they are eukaryotes, which means that their cells have a nucleus, just as ours do. This particular species is a predator of the heat-loving (thermophilic) bacteria which live in the hot spring, Whilst simpler organisms which don’t have a nucleus can survive at even higher temperatures – Methanopyrus kandlerii, for example, can survive at up to 122 degrees Celsius – the discovery of a higher organism which can live at such high temperatures gives a lot of potential material for study. How do they do it?

One thing that the amoeba seems to have in abundance is a range of molecules called heat shock proteins – these help to stabilise unravelling proteins, including those that live in cell membranes and are essential for transporting vital chemicals through the cell wall. DNA can also be damaged by high temperatures, but as the temperature goes up, more DNA repair molecules are secreted. Interestingly, both advanced and simpler organisms have very similar heat-resistance mechanisms, meaning they probably evolved separately when similar stresses were applied. All in all, this extends the possibilities for where life might exist, both here and (potentially) on other planets too.

The New Scientist article is here.

The research paper is here.

Dear Readers, there is something very special about walking in ancient woodland, and Symondshyde Great Wood has been recorded since the time of the Normans – it was part of the Bishop of Ely’s deer park in medieval times, and has a series of ancient banks, ditches and quarries which are difficult to decipher, at least for an amateur like me. In the middle of the wood is a conifer plantation from the 1950s – the pine trees will not be replaced when they die, to allow the native trees to regenerate.

I was with my friend L, and between us we tried to ‘read’ the wood and the individual trees. The experts on this include the people who attend the Ancient Tree Forum, and I’m becoming increasingly interested in the way that, if you have the knowledge, you can tell a lot about a tree’s history just from studying it. It’s also a way of understanding what has happened to a tree so that you can find the best way to help it.

But, here in Symondshyde, there is so much going on that it’s difficult to get your head around.

The trees in the photos above, for example, were all planted on top of a ditch, probably originally as hedging, to mark a boundary and/or prevent animals from entering the wood. The way the hornbeams have grown seems to indicate that they were intended to throw up a lot of shoots which could be interwoven into a hedge. At some point, that process ceased, and so the hedge became a row of trees instead. As my garden has shown me, a hedge is just a linear forest if you don’t prune and train it regularly.

I just love the muscularity of hornbeam trees. Once you learn that the bark is smooth and ripples like well-honed biceps, they become easy to identify.

Anyhoo, we cross a field at the side of the wood that’s full of chicory and bristly oxtongue…

And enter the remnant wood on the other side, which is truly extraordinary.

I have absolutely no idea what’s going on here – the whole thing looks more like a skateboard park than anything I’ve ever seen. There are ditches, and what could be pits and quarries. I know from the Historic England records that Iron Age artefacts have been found very close to here, but how this area relates to that, I don’t know. I will be doing some research and will get back to you. But for now, it remains an intriguing enigma.

Looks like a sparrowhawk has been at work. I loved the water drops on the feather.

There were some fine fungi on an ash tree too.

Back in the main wood, this magnificent oak tree made me dizzy. Oaks in woodland often grow straight and tall, whilst in the open they have a wider, more domed shape.

The 1950s pine plantation is the only place where bracken grows, probably because the fallen pine needles make the soil more acidic than it is in the rest of the wood.

I love the way that the larvae of this leaf miner have followed the veins, making this lacy silvery tracery…

And look at the strange patterns on this oak bark, it all looks very 1960s psychedelic.

So, this was a first visit to Symondshyde Great Wood, but it won’t be the last – what a spectacular place. Furthermore, we were walking around for hours and only saw two other people and one poodle. Well worth a visit if you’re craving some time amongst magnificent trees and bird song.

A map of the area is here.

I loved this ‘Poem on the Underground’ by Young Poet on the Underground Rebecca Hawkes. Let’s not forget that this amazing tapestry is propaganda, after all…

Dear Readers, as long-time members of the British Museum we were able to get tickets for the Bayeux Tapestry, currently being exhibited in London for the first time. The show is now sold out until the end of the year, but the next booking period will open on 21st October for viewing in the early part of 2027 – you can sign up for information here, which I would recommend. Members get an early shot at tickets on 6th October.

Why should you go? Well, for me the fact that this tapestry has survived for almost a thousand years is reason enough, but what stunned me when I saw it was the wealth of detail, and the insight into how people lived – everything from preparing a feast to building a ship. We see people hoisting up their clothes to wade out to a ship, carrying chain mail, building castles,  roasting chickens and pigs on a rotisserie. We see houses burned with a woman and child inside. We, famously, see Halley’s comet giving the blessing to Harold’s coronation. And when the battle comes we see the brutality, horses overturned, people with missing limbs, and bodies being stripped naked for their armour. I didn’t expect to be moved by what is, after all, an embroidered cartoon, but I was.

So, now that I’ve (hopefully) convinced you that it’s worth a look, here are a few practical tips.

• If the organisation continues as it was today, there will be two queues, one for general admission and one for people with Bayeux tapestry tickets (and members). The ticket-holder queue is usually much shorter.
• There are two entrances, the main one and the one at the back on Monmouth Street. The latter is, again, usually much shorter.
• Don’t bring big bags, it just slows up the security queue.
• Once in, it’s worth checking who is being allowed in – on a weekday morning we were allowed straight in, even though our tickets were for a later time slot.
• People are managed in groups of ten, with a couple of useful videos first, and then you move along the balcony, so you can see the tapestry from above at a distance while you wait.
• No photography allowed, no, not even with your phone.
• The tapestry is displayed flat, but you get a really good view.
• However, you are told to keep moving, which most people do (though there are always the ones who think it’s appropriate to stop at one panel for ten minutes). You can move round them, however. Part of me thinks a small cattle prod would be a good idea, but maybe that’s just me being mean. If everyone shuffles along slowly, everyone gets a good look. It’s only fair.
• I think that the exhibition has been managed very well, in spite of some online moans about queues etc. My overall advice would be to get there at least an hour before your time slot – it will probably take less time than this, but if you get in early you can always have a coffee/browse the bookshop/see if you can get in early. This is probably the British Museum’s biggest exhibition since Tutankhamun back in the 1970s, so a bit of queueing is inevitable. But what an amazing thing to see! And cheaper than getting the train to Bayeux for sure.

Slender Blue-Winged Cricket (Sphingonotus caerulans )Photo By Andreas Eichler, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44094274

Dear Readers, a while back I wrote about the impact of climate change on the range of insects that arriving in the UK, and last week there was an article in The Guardian outlining some of the unusual species that have been cropping up, particularly on the south coast. First up is the impressive grasshopper in the photo above, which is found in northern France and Scandinavia – it was found at Colne Point, in Essex, and was thought to be the first to arrive that wasn’t a stowaway on a ship. It’s easy to forget that many grasshoppers can fly considerable distances (at least until you remember locusts).

Big-eyed Bug (Geocoris megacephalus) Photo By Emanuele SantarelliDepicted place: 64021 Giulianova TE, Italia (42°46′51″N 13°57′19″E / 42.7808016489°N 13.9553688447°E) – https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/148390417, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110808992

A Big-eyed Bug was also found at Colne Point – this was a new species for the UK. It’s a beneficial predator that feeds on a number of moth larvae that are crop pests. As with all these insects, the question is always a) will it survive the winter, and b) how will it fit in to existing ecosystems? The general view is that the big problem is usually organisms that have been deliberately introduced, but it will be fascinating to see.

A number of new moths arrive every month, it seems: retired secretary Jackie Harmer set up her moth trap for the first time, and within a week had found a first for the UK – the Autumnal Rustic (Ocide pergrata) which normally lives in Spain.

Jackie Harmer’s Autumnal Rustic (Ocide pergrata) Photo from https://www.facebook.com/groups/337280795230888/posts/1353889086903382/

And David Cousins, who lives in north Essex, found a Spotted Seal Moth (Enolmis acanthella), not just a previously unknown species, but the first representative of its whole genus, in his moth trap. The caterpillars of this unusual moth feed on lichen.

Enolmis acanthella (Photo By Jean.claude – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60237989)

What occurs to me is that most people don’t pay a lot of attention to insects (or plants), and so who knows how many other species are going unnoticed? It will be interesting to see how things develop over the next few years. This year has been a sensational year for hummingbird hawk moths, for example, with people who have never seen one before being absolutely stunned by them. Anything that encourages people to pay attention has got to be a good thing….

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

Rowan berries on Huntingdon Road

Well Readers, I’m finally home after nearly a month of travel and, fun as it was, it’s really lovely to sleep in my own bed. But in my absence autumn seems to have kicked in with a vengeance, and I’ve rarely seen such a display of berries. Presumably it’s partly due to the hot weather, but I’m sure the birds will be pleased regardless.

Crape Myrtle is having a second flowering

It fascinates me that just as some plants are  gearing up with fruit, others are flowering, sometimes for the second time, like the Crape Myrtle above, which was magnificent a few months ago, and which is having a second go now.

Passionflower

The Passionflowers are in flower, though some are also displaying their ripe orange fruits.

And on the corner of Summerlee Avenue there’s a magnificent ivy bush in full flower. There are lots of honeybees, but no ivy bees just yet. I shall keep an eye open.

Michaelmas Daisies

The Michaelmas daisies are in full bloom.

And then it’s off to Cherry Tree Wood, where some ditches and berms have been constructed to try to alleviate the annual flooding problems.

The wood is looking good as it puts on its autumn colours…

But wait – what’s this that’s looking at me?

I rather like this graffiti – at least it’s on dead wood, not on living trees, and  it requires a lot of skill.  And then there’s this mysterious ‘installation’…

I hope somebody comes by and rescues teddy from a life of drunken debauchery soon!

Dear Readers, today I’ll be heading home via Brussels, so here are a few photos that didn’t seem to fit in anywhere else this week – particularly some of the ‘weeds of Antwerp’. Normal service will be resumed on Monday!

A familiar friend – Trailing Bellflower

A modern house squeezed into a triangular site…

Health and safety are not always a priority 🙂

A pyramid near the Asia Dock. Gawd knows what this is.

Another Antwerp ‘weed’ – Clerodendrum (Glory Bower)

Historic cranes of Antwerp

Delightful Dachshund spoon rest.

House on General Van Merlenstraat

Holy moly Readers, we had a lot of fun today wandering around the Art Nouveau area in Antwerp (technically Zurenburg). There were so many stunning buildings, all beautifully preserved and full of intricate detail. Have a look at some of them below…

On the corner are the ‘Four Seasons’ houses – as the name suggests, each house is decorated to represent a different season.

Further down Waterloostraat, there are houses with mosaics representing Napoleon and Nelson (hough I somehow missed Nelson)

And if you think these were impressive, wait until you see what’s on Cogels Osylei, where the houses are truly enormous.

But wait! Look what’s tucked in towards the top of the road…

Apparently this house is meant to represent the 20th century, which I suppose it does, and better something so individual than a pastiche. Still, for those of us who fancy something grander, one of the mansions was recently for sale at a mere 1.3m Euro, which, since it has seven bedrooms, feels something of a bargain compared to London prices.

And when you’ve finished, you can head off to Dageraadplaats, with a church on one side, cafes and restaurants all around the edge, and a playground and basketball court in the middle for the young folk. Plus, a number 11 tram will take you all the way home. What a great week we’ve had in Antwerp1 Highly recommended.

The Port Authority Building, Antwerp (Zaha Hadid)

Dear Readers, today we went on a boat trip around the port of Antwerp, and there is no doubt that the building in the photo above is probably the most controversial edifice that we passed. The Port Authority Building is the last thing designed by British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, and was completed in 2016, the year of her death.The commission was a complicated one. The building below housed the fire station, which had to be integrated into the design, and the building itself was a reconstruction of a Hanseatic League house, which was also protected. At the time, the different departments of the Port Authority were scattered all over Antwerp, and the brief included the need to bring up to 500 employees together on one site.

Construction was surprisingly quick (it started in 2012) due to the ease of bringing in materials via the extensive docks and the river Schelde – it only took four years to create. The glass sparkles in the sunlight, picking up the reflections from the water, and referencing Antwerp’s role as the epicentre of the diamond trade. The shape of the new building was designed to resemble the bow of a sailing ship. Energy efficiency was also key – some of the glass is opaque, to give protection from the sun, and there’s a complex heating/cooling system involving an 80 metre borehole down into the dock. I would love to know how the building works as an office, and have searched in vain for some interior photos that I can share with you, but alas they’re all under licence. But you can get a good idea here.

Photo by By Torsade de Pointes – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61517669

Personally, I think it’s a strikingly brave building, but then, as we’ve seen, Antwerp has a number of intriguing new buildings alongside its medieval city centre, such as the new MAS museum that we visited on Sunday.

MAS

And, from talking to someone in the lift (like you do), we found out that there’s a design festival called ‘Us By Night‘ on from this evening, featuring a gathering of creative people from all over Europe. You might think Antwerp is all about Rubens and beer, but there’s a lot happening here.

Dear Readers, what a quirky place Antwerp is! Today we headed off to Mercator Ortellius House, where the story of Antwerp in the 16th Century is narrated via six ‘immersive’ shows. I wasn’t expecting a lot, to be honest – these immersive things can be a bit hit and miss – but this was very well done. We learned about Ortellius, who lived in the house and compiled the first atlas, about Plantin-Moretus, who printed that first atlas amongst many, many other books, and about how the liberal city of Antwerp eventually succumbed to iconoclastic riots during the reign of Philip II of Spain, who ruled the Low Countries at the time. More to the point, the show features a ginger cat, so I’m not complaining.

And then we wandered off to the Stadspark, which seems to be three-quarters fenced-off, but which features a German bunker. My husband never met a bunker he didn’t like, so this was a must-see. It’s a German 622 Command Bunker, for those interested in the detail. John says that normally these were buried, so it’s interesting to see one in the open.

There’s a plaque on the wall of the bunker commemorating Robert Vekemans, who worked out a way of getting behind the Germans and clearing the way for the advance to liberate Antwerp. From 1944 the bunker was a Red Cross station, providing medical help to soldiers and civilians.

The park itself has a lot of similarities with a London park – the horse chestnuts are brown and crinkly, jackdaws and parakeets call from the trees, children fall off their scooters etc etc. However, one creature is notable by its absence, and even my husband noticed it.

“Where”, he asked, “Are the squirrels”?

Well, the Belgians have been very strict about not letting any grey squirrel populations get out of hand by culling them at the first opportunity. However, they are also doing some very interesting research on what makes grey squirrels such successful species, particularly in urban environments, and one study points out that there is a behaviour difference between squirrels in their natural environment, and when they are ‘invasive’. Grey squirrels tend to be much more social and tolerant of one another out of their home environment – maybe this is similar to humans clustering together when in a strange place, or when they feel threatened. This study is believed to be the first to look at squirrel ‘personality’, which is interesting in itself – not so long ago, scientists were reluctant to credit any species other than ourselves with personality, and now it’s cropping up everywhere. It makes perfect sense – in any population you need bold individuals and shy individuals, stay-at-homes and adventurers, because you never know when the environment is going to change, and need your particular superpowers. However, so far the grey squirrels of Antwerp (and indeed of Belgium) have not naturalised due to the stringent eradication programme. On the other hand, I didn’t see any red squirrels, though there have been several attempts to reintroduce them into Antwerp parks where they were previously present. Maybe these little guys just really don’t like urban environments, though I did see them running about quite happily in the Botanical Garden in Copenhagen.

Anyhow, now we’re home, and considering tomorrow’s boat trip around the Port of Antwerp. See you there!