Europhilex

My first stamp show of 2025 and it was a big one. Europhilex at the NEC. I visited yesterday (Friday 9th May).

Given this was a large international exhibition, I was expecting a bit more from it. There was a large number of competitive presentations, including some great thematic exhibits. But overall, the hall wasn't full and there were fewer dealers than I was expecting. Unlike previous international exhibitions there didn't seem to be much presence from postal agencies from other countries either. 

My favourite display was an excellent analysis of diabetes, with a huge amount of material related to the history and science around it. 

The main reason I went to Europhilex was because the British Thematic Association were holding a meeting. This included a presentation about postcards from North Borneo followed by an opportunity for members to show some of their stamps. 

I took some bits from my collection of the Statue of Liberty on stamps. There was a real mix of other topics ranging from puffins to mistakes on stamps (like depicting Christopher Columbus holding a telescope, which hadn't been invented when he set sail).

I didn't buy much, but I did find a stamp featuring my favourite baseball player, Tony Gwynn. As it was Tony's birthday, I had to buy it!

I also got something for Cathy...

Animal adoption updates

Last year Cathy and I adopted or sponsored or supported an animal every month through various organisations and agencies. We have decided to continue this year. Our January adoptee was a hedgehog through Cuan Wildlife Rescue in Shropshire.

In return for a donation we received a toy hedgehog, and a few other bits and pieces including a hedgehog heroes tea towel, an adoption certificate and Cuan's latest newsletter. Cuan cares for literally hundreds of hedgehogs each year, along with numerous other animals ranging in size from tiny shrews up to deer. In total over 20,000 animals were cared for in 2021.

We have also had an update on the puffin we support through the Welsh Wildlife Trust. In addition to a lovely little annual report, the letter they sent confirmed that "our" puffin had been spotted on Skomer Island on a few occasions. 

The report was full of interesting information - including a story about a puffin they spotted with a ring the researchers didn't recognise. It turned out it had been ringed under an old scheme when it was a chick in 1992! I've got adult friends who are younger than that! The survival rate for puffins is about 91 per cent, so almost 1 in 10 puffins don't make it through year on year. The one born in 1992 had beaten the survival odds three times over.

As an aside, years ago I worked in charity communications, so I always look at materials like this from a professional point of view. This update really worked in connecting me with the orgnisation. It was personal, because it mentioned "our" puffin, and it explained how our support was making a difference without a hard sell to continue that support. But the feedback and the nicely presented additional information has made me feel very positive about continuing to support the organisation. And I'll admit the photos of puffins help to sell it too. 

When I rounded up all our adoptions from last year, I said the December adoption was on its way. I didn't know where it was coming from bacuase Cathy had arranged it as a surprise. It arrived today and what a surprise it was - an adopted manatee through the Save the Manatee Club. We are now the adoptive parents of Floyd, who is almost as old as we are.

Floyd is apparently a bit of a character who will sneak up and barge photographers trying to take pictures of the manatees. He has some scars and has lost a chunk of his tail in a boating accident. Visiting the manatees at Blue Spring State Park in Florida is one of the things on my bucket list - hopefully Floyd will be there when we visit!

Our 2021 menagerie of adopted animals

At the start of 2021, when the world was locked down, Cathy and I read about a number of zoos and other places that cared for animals that were finding finances difficult. We decided to sponsor an animal a month in different places, which means by the end of 2021 we had accumulated quite the virtual menagerie! (And some toy animals too!)

We have sponsored rhinos for a while through both Save the Rhino and WWF. The updates from both organisations are encouraging, and some rhino populations are doing quite well. However, these brilliant animals are still targeted by poachers who are after their horns for use in 'traditional medicine'. Rhino horns are made from the same substance as fingernails so it's not exactly a rare commodity. If anyone wonders why I have a very dim view of humans, the rhino poaching industry is exhibit A in my case against humanity. 

Anyway, we started the year by sponsoring the care of a rescued bat at Cuan Wildlife Centre. This is a growing rescue and rehabilitation centre in Shropshire who do some wonderful work for wild animals. Their Facebook updates are an absolute joy. As part of the sponsorship package, we got a cuddly bat.

In February we sponsored a turtle at The Deep in Hull. This is a stunning aquarium that we visited in 2019 while on holiday in Yorkshire. We particularly liked the sawfish. However, we chose the 'turtles' sponsorship package which came with a toy turtle in a tin with various other goodies in it, including a nice fridge magnet.

In March we decided to sponsor a seal at the Cornish Seal Sanctuary in Gweek. It's some time since we went there last. There's a choice of sponsoring a seal pup that will be released or sponsoring one of the permanent residents. Reading through all the biographies of seals you can sponsor presented us with a tough choice. We eventually picked a grey seal called Pumpkin, because he has a very rare illness and is on permanent medication so he can't be released into the wild. Cathy identified with the rare illness and medication side of things. 

There wasn't a cuddly seal in the adoption package, but there was a fridge magnet of Pumpkin. It's on our fridge along with some of the other magnets we've acquired through sponsorships - Pumpkin's is bottom right. The rhino in the picture is Lankeu, our WWF adoptee. 

April's adoptee was a Painted Dog at West Midlands Safari Park. They call them Hunting Dogs but I prefer the name Painted Dogs. These wild dogs are very rare now, and like most wild dogs part of the problem is that humans either regard them as pests and kill them, or regard them as pets and feed them, thus disrupting their natural existence. 

They also have the most amazing ears, as seen in the glossy photo that came in the adoption pack. The ears are captured in the little toy dog that we received as well. 

In May we adopted an elephant at Woburn Safari Park. We had a great day out at Woburn a couple of years ago and while we were there we got to go to an elephant's birthday party. Well, we watched from a distance as a troop of elephants demolished a "cake" made of branches and the birthday girl bounced a giant red ball around with glee. There was also a 'parade' where they brought a well-behaved elephant right next to people and we could reach out and touch it. An amazing experience and one I would recommend. 

We took a bit of a different tack in June. We had been watching the puffin cam set up by The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, so we sponsored a puffin through them. The certificate was very detailed, including the leg ring identity of the puffin we support.

In July we sponsored Biggie the Aldabran Giant Tortoise at Bristol Zoo. Biggie has been a resident in Bristol Zoo since 1975, the year Cathy was born. He is the oldest animal currently in the zoo and has been there longer then any other animals. Biggie weighs 200k, which is the weight of a silverback gorilla. So that's why he's called "Biggie". The cuddly version of him looks a bit grumpy.

He seems happier in the photos in the adoption literature. Although, it's hard really to tell how a tortoise is feeling. They're inscrutable. 

August's adoption was a bit different. For the first time we adopted animals at somewhere we have yet to visit. The Wild Place is linked to Bristol Zoo and we sponsored their sleuth of bears. (Did you know a collection of bears is a sleuth? I didn't.) The bears are Neo, Nilas, Albie and Gemini. I'm a big fan of bears. Definitely my spirit animals. 

We hadn't adopted any amphibians yet and they are probably the biological phylum most in danger of disappearing entirely. We made up for our oversight in September by adopting a Fea's Tree Frog at Paignton Zoo. Aparently these particular frogs aren't overly endangered at the moment. Long may it stay that way.

Not content with already having two rhino adoptions on the go, we adopted the rhinos at Folly Farm in October. It was a trip to Folly Farm on a cold February day in 2018 where we learned about the work of Save the Rhino. I remember one of the rhinos present peering cautiously out of the rhino house door at swirling snowflakes and deciding outside was not for them that day. I don't blame them!

Technically, we sponsor all the rhinos, but the one pictured on the certificate is Manyara the matriarch of Folly Farm's crash of eastern black rhinos. 

We went back to aquatic creatures in November, buying a Stevie Shark cuddly toy from WWF's Cub Club. The money from the sale goes to support shark conservation in UK waters. Stevie is filled with 100% recycled polyester filling and has got to be one of the cutest sharks ever. He is very soft and nice to cuddle!

December's adopted animal is still on its way to us, delayed by Christmas post. (And probably by omicron as well - everything is getting blamed on that at the moment!) So, there will be an update post at some point in the next few weeks to round off the 2021 menagerie!

Holiday on Pen Llyn - Ynys Enlli / Bardsey Island

I love visiting islands off the coast of Britain. A few years ago we managed a trip to Lundy. On this holiday we decided to visit Bardsey, or to call it by it's proper name, Enlli.

The island is in the background, Honest.

The approach reminded me a bit of that mist covered island at the start of Jurassic Park 3. Atmospheric would be a perfect word for it.

It's a mark of life in a pandemic that even on an island outpost surrounded by sea, you're welcomed with hand sanitizer.

We chose to walk up to the lighthouse first.

From by the lighthouse, you get a good view along the length of the island towards Mynedd Enlli.

Then we walked back.

This meant we walked back past the beach where all the seals were lounging around and mucking about with their flippers in the air. You are most definitely not allowed to pester the seals by going near them, but that doesn't stop them from being curious and watching you intently.

Later, as we waited for the boat home we heard the seals "singing". That was quite a unique experience. 

On the slopes of Mynedd Enlli, is the ruin of the old abbey.

There really isn't much left of the abbey. There is a chapel behind it though. There are sometimes spiritual retreats on the island, following in the steps of the Celtic saints. 

The trees are a giveaway of the prevailing wind. I love island trees that look like this.

On the way home, the boat captain drove very close to the island shore so we could see the seabirds. These kittwakes are the males who had been unlucky during the mating season and were now left in a bachelor flock while the successful males helped raise a chick.

But the absolute highlight was the puffin nests, with the puffins proudly standing guard in front of their burrows. 

After that slight detour, the boat sped back to the mainland and that was the end of our trip to Ynys Enlli.

Highlights of 2017: Discovering Lundy Island

Back in May, Cathy and I had a week's holiday in North Devon. We stayed in a converted piggery - Cathy found it in the holiday brochure, told me it was the Old Piggery then read out the list of features. My response: "You had me at 'piggery'."

Not bad for a piggery

On the Thursday we took a boat from Bideford to Lundy. I'd heard about Lundy but didn't know much about it at all. I knew they had their own stamps as a money-making thing. And birds. And not much else.

The boat was fairly full. we had a seal on the rocks to greet us as we arrived. It's quite a hike up from the beach, but the island is basically a moor stuck in the middle of the sea.

But it is breathtaking. Yes, there were lots of birds, but they were a long way down the cliffs and inconveniently, puffins are really small! But we did just about see them flitting about.

One of the few buildings on the island is the lighthouse.

There is also a shop and a pub, and accommodation. But we weren't planning to stay the night and had to leg it back to catch the boat. We did have time to stop and post some post cards.

As we left a pod of dolphins kept pace with our boat for a few minutes, rounding off a magical day out. As you can see from the photos it was a blisteringly sunny day, although with a wind chill at times. However, coming home we seemed to cross a portal back into the rainy mainland world.