Landlocked Mermaid

Top Five Eco-Instagram Accounts (Thank you Sarah for the idea!) 5. BBC Earth @bbcearth  From BBC Earth While a lot of their feed is advertisments for the upcoming BBC wildlife documentaries, one can harly complain about that. They share some pretty amazing widlife pictures. But they also share eco-friendly projects, like sustainable t-shirts from Teemill , and have stories and posts dedicated to sustainable living.  4. Marine Conservation Society @msc_uk    From MSC_uk This was one of the first accounts I followed to help me reduce the plastic in my life. They share helpful infographics and supporting guides from their website, which made it a very helpful starting place. They have a nice balance of eco-campaigning, wildlife pictures, and information. 3. 4Ocean @4ocean  From 4Ocean 4Ocean are an organisation who pull plastic waste from the ocean and recycle them into very cute bracelets. I should know, I have...

This bank holiday weekend I ventured to Deep Wales for a dive weekend with Shrewsbury Sub Aqua Club . We stayed at Tyn Ros again, using it as our base camp for dives at Abersoch and Porth Ysgaden. The plan was two dives on Saturday and Sunday, and one on Monday. Thanks to real life and work, Monday was never on the cards for me and my partner. But Saturday and Sunday were fair game for us! The club boats @ Porth Ysgaden The plan for Saturday was two dives from Porth Ysgaden: one over Big Rock and the other on the other side of the bay. Unfortunately, the sea had a different plan for me. On the first dive, we were supposed to descend the shot line on Big Rock. Being in a semi-dry (read, two wetsuits functioning as), I was slated to go in the water last, so I spent the least amount of time cold and wet on the boat. By the time I went in the water, the current was really running fast. It wasn't slow for the other divers, particularly, either. After rolling off the boa...

Fair warning: This is a post about periods and sanitary products. If you're squeamish or not comfortable reading about this sort of thing, give it a miss. My next post will be about my diving trip this weekend, come back for that. About this time last year, I was beginning my journey into reducing plastic. One of the guides I looked at outlined the fact that women's products - tampons and sanitary towels - are a massive contributor to plastic pollution and talked about how to reduce that. Honestly, the way it came across was a little "just bleed less", which is definitely not how that works. But some further research and discussion with friends and family did uncover some alternatives to the plastic heavy products the market is full of. The obvious choice was to go for a Mooncup - as they are probably the best known alternative. But they weren't for me. I have never used tampons and these are a natural progression from there. Plus, I don't really wor...

A couple weeks ago, I went to Oswestry with my mum and found some goodies . One of which was The Mermaid Cookbook by Alix Carey, aka @mykitchendrawer on Instagram. After having found the mermaid/whale tail cookie cutter, it seemed like the planets were aligning. Also, it was only a couple quid from The Works. Clearly I had to buy it! The book itself So, as the perfect excuse to try out a couple of the recipes I thought I would give it a review! My usual trick with cookbooks is to buy them, put them on the shelf and the only ever use them once. All these cakes look too beautiful for me to not give them a go. Also, it's a mermaid cookbook. What sort of mermaid would I be, if I ignored this book? FIRST IMPRESSIONS My first impression, there and then in the shop, was that it was beautiful. Just a quick flick through the pages showed a colourful variety of cakes and treats with a fun nautical theme. Upon further perusing over coffee, I found how fun the book is. Turtle s...

Ancient Seas Pelagornis Sandersi Photo from Sci-News Kingdom: Animalia Class: Aves Conservation Status: Extinct (EX) Era: Upper Oligocene (25 million years ago) WHAT WAS IT? If you hadn't guessed, it was a very big bird. The largest flying bird to have ever lived, in fact. (That we know of.) This toothed bird had an estimated wingspan between 6.4-7.4m (21-24ft), which is twice as wide as a royal albatross which soars in the skies above the seas today. Pelagornis Sandersi was identified as a new species in 2014 by Dr Daniel Ksepka, a paleontologist associated with Bruce Museum in Connecticut, despite being discovered back in 1983. Dr Ksepka was the scientist who extrapolated the wingspan, theorised its feather coat, and postulated that this bird could in fact fly - despite its size. Pelagornis means "pseudo-tooth"; this "toothed" bird actually had small spiny protrusions on its beak which functioned as teeth. They were not actua...

One of the reasons why I am trying to get better at sewing is so that I do not have to rely on fast fashion and that disposable way of thinking. Oh, these jeans have a hole in them? Better bin them. No! While there are some items of clothing that once they have holes in them they become unwearable, but I am mostly thinking undies here and they definitely have a shelf life. But a perfectly wearable pair of jeans your chunky butt tore a hole in? Well, that's a different story. The original offending hole. And that is exactly what I was working with: an old pair of work jeans which went threadbare in the butt. (Naturally, I found this out midshift, when they finally gave way.) Not enough of my wardrobe actually fits me - my fluctuating weight makes things tight or loose, or weirdly both. But these jeans consistently fit me, hence why I wore them to work. The last thing I need with my hands full is a pair of droopy drawers. So while they have been officially retired and ...

Marine Creature of the Month Narwhal Photo from Arctic Kingdom Kingdom: Animalia Class: Mammalia Conservation Status: Near Threatened (NT) WHERE DO THEY LIVE? Narwhals live in the arctic waters around Canada, Greenland, and Russia. They are migratory creatures which live in open waters during the winter months and bay areas during the summer months. WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE? So if a unicorn and a dolphin had a baby, it would probably look a lot like a narwhal. These mottled grey toothed whales have a protruding tusk which resembles a horn. The tusk is actually a tooth which literally grows out of their faces. It is mostly the males which have the tusk but it isn't uncommon for the females to grow them too. In fact, 15% of them do though theirs are smaller of than the males. Overall, narwhals are medium sized whales, averaging between 3.95-5.5m (13-18ft) with an extra 1.5-3.1m (4.9-10.2ft) for the tusk. These tusks are actually hollow and used as a ...

This month, I have asked the kids to show me on Dylan's world map where some of the sharks they have drawn for me live. Here are their findings: I'm sure Dylan meant to point at the correct America! This will be the last episode of Sharks @ 7 & 3/4, but fear not my favourite shark experts will be back in July with a new name! Dylan pointed out that at nearly nine, we cannot keep calling the segment 7 & 3/4. So we are having a month off and will be back with new videos from July. All of the old videos are still available on YouTube and this channel, to watch to your heart's content.