In West Lancashire, UK, there is a hidden cave only known to a few urban explorers and the locals. The cave is thought to be formed from an old mine shaft and at its center there is the spectacular‘dragon’s eye’. The mythical looking pattern is believed to have developed ‘as a result of a collapsed mine roof that exposed different colour sediments’, according to discvr.blog.
Window tax was a property tax based on the number of windows in a house. It was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, France, and Ireland during the 18th and 19th centuries. To avoid the tax, some houses from the period can be seen to have bricked-up window-spaces
In 1696 in England, William III introduced the infamous Window tax, taxing houses based on the number of windows they had. Houses with more than ten windows had to pay a steep ten shillings. Many houses bricked up their windows to reduce the number which caused health problems. After 156 years, it was repealed in 1851 following campaigners branded it a “tax on health” and “tax on light and air”.
Chris Kenny works with humble, found materials: like twigs. These little figures demonstrate the saintly characteristics of self-denial and humility. Since March 2017, Chris Kenny has been making a daily sculpture of a saint cut from a twig and posting it on Instagram as @twigsaints .
Aerial photos reveal groups of Japanese cedar trees swelling toward the sky, creating two forest circles. According to a 1973 document from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, researchers had embarked on a project designed to examine tree spacing and its effect on growth. According to Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, the height difference between the smallest trees at the center and the tallest trees on the outer ring was over 5 meters. Again, this implies that trees in less dense areas have more access to resources while trees in the center, have to compete for sunlight and water. The research team is bringing the experiment to an end. The trees will be harvested unless they are preserved as a tourist attraction.
A rare phenomenon in Lake Baikal in Siberia called “Baikal Zen”, Rocks lying on the surface of the frozen lake are heated by sunlight that melts the ice below. When the sun sets, the ice freezes again, creating these incredible frozen structures.
Eucalyptus pauciflora, commonly known as snow gum, is a species of tree native to eastern Australia. It has smooth bark in shades of white, gray, and occasionally red and white flowers. The bark sheds, giving it an attractive mottled appearance in various colors.
Covão dos Conchos is an artificial lake in the Serra da Estrela mountains in Portugal that is famous for its Bell-mouth spillway. The spillway was built in 1955 with the aim of diverting water from Ribeira das Naves to Lagoa Comprida. This sci-fi-looking spillway was little-known until photos of the hole went viral in 2016. Over the last 60 years moss and foliage has grown onto the mouth of the funnel, adding to its ethereal allure. The tunnel that collects the water is 1519 meters long. The sinkhole creates the illusion that the dam is broken.
info: wikipedia
The Hungry Tree is a tree in the grounds of the King’s Inns in Dublin, Ireland. The 80-year-old plane tree has become known for having partially consumed a nearby park bench. The tree was planted next to a cast iron bench dating from the early 1800s. Over decades the tree has grown to encompass the bench and is said to be “eating” the bench, which is how the tree’s name originated. The tree has been listed as one of the country’s “Heritage Trees” by the Tree Council of Ireland and it has been listed largely for its value as a curiosity and tourist attraction rather than its age or rarity.
“Iceberg” is located in the Kegen district of the Almaty region between the villages of Kegen and Shyrganak. Thanks to the fine particles of water that are sprayed high into the sky, the “iceberg” looks like a smoking ice volcano. The “volcano” appears every winter with the arrival of cold weather as a result of an underground spring. When temperatures drop below zero, the water freezes in the form of a volcano cone.
Sail Rock is a natural sandstone monolith located on the shore of the Black Sea in Russia. It resembles the outline of a ship’s sail, hence its name. The monolith has a sheer vertical slope confronting the shore of the sea, isolated from the mass of basic rock by geological forces. It is more than three-fourths revealed by the tide and lies perpendicular to the coast. What is most remarkable about this landmark is its proportions. While the cliff is only a little more than one meter thick, its height is about 25 m and its length about 20.
An opening of unclear origin is located in the sail, approximately 2.5 meters above the ground. Many guides state that the formation was a defense against mountain artillery during the Caucasian War. However, this version of the origin of the opening is under some doubt. In 1903, S. Vasyukov, who was investigating the Black Sea coast, wrote after the inspection of the cliff that it was “[..] shot from a battleship by seamen, they released 4 projectiles, but the wall remained firm, although the traces are noticeable, but they nowhere opened the rock […]”.
info: wikipedia
Sergey S. Dukachev, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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