Sunday, 17 May 2026

P for Penguins

 

1978: Antarctic Fauna
Emperor Penguin are the heaviest and  largest of the penguins
1991: Endangered Species - King Penguin
The King Penguin is smaller but unlike the Emperor Penguin it lives in the sub-arctic islands and rocky coastlines.
1999: Definitive - Birds (Design - Una Hurst)
It  is the largest and most colourful penguin on South Georgia. The artist Una Hurst specialises in the wildlife of the South Atlantic and has designed and painted nearly 50 postage stamps. Born on the Falkland Islands she now lives in Scotland with her family on a sheep farm in Orkney. 
1956: Penguins and Seals
The Rockhopper Penguin, one of the many species of crested penguins.
2002: Comic Strips and Movies
Rasmus Klump is a bear that always wears polka dot dungarees and goes on many adventures with his friends, Pingo the Penguin, Pelle (a pelican), Pildskadden (a turtle) and Skaeg (a seal) on his boat the Mary.

Sunday Stamps A-Z - here for Penguins and a Pelican - See It On A Postcard 

Thursday, 14 May 2026

Gardens

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for Public Gardens

Ballindalloch Castle, Banffshire, Scotland
A view of Ballindalloch Castle, visitors can enjoy its formal gardens, woodlands and riverside walks which are open to the public from Easter to the end of September. The first tower of the castle was built in 1546, much altered it still stands today.

Aberlour is located on the banks of the River Spey and famous for its whisky, and Walker's shortbread (the company is the UK's largest exporter of biscuits). The photos are of the Parish Church, the River Spey and the Alice Littler Park.

Travelling from the east coast of Scotland 

to the Isle of Man in sunshine and the Promenade Gardens of Douglas, the island's capital.

Sunday, 10 May 2026

Orchids

 

1968: Flowers IV
O is for Orchid
1982: Wild Orchids

L-R = Early Purple Orchid or as the Swede's call it, St Peter's Keys: Marsh helleborine; Elder-flowered orchids the two grow together in different colours, purple and white, so I rather like the Swedish name of Adam and Eve; lastly a Lady's Slipper. 

The price of this stamp sheet included 1.60kr in aid of stamp collecting.

1993: Orchids -  issued for the 14th World Orchid Conference in Glasgow

We now head into the esoteric growing of orchids by enthusiasts 18p Dendrobium hellwigianum from the mountains in east New Guinea the next 24p has so many Latin names I'll just say it is a clone and cross from Asia and Borneo 


 Cymbidium owianum (Low's Boat Orchid)  introduced from Burma

33 another cross from the Himalayas and Thailand; 39  a variety of Dendribium vexillarius originally from the cloud forests of New Guinea 

Sunday Stamps A-Z - O for Orchid  - See It On A Postcard

Thursday, 7 May 2026

Tree Time

 

See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt - Parks and Gardens visiting National Parks

SJ Lamorna Birch travelled the length of England and Scotland from his home in Cornwall to paint travel posters for LMS (London, Midlands and Scottish) Railways. This view of Loughrigg Tarn was painted c1925. One can walk around the tarn and is one of the 'Miles without Stiles' walks in the Lake District National Park.
 

Another 'Miles without Stiles' walk is around Tarn Hows and is a very popular walk with fine views. 

Lathkill Dale, Nr Bakewell
A sunny walk along the Lathkill River which lies at the heart of the Peak District National Park. 

Sunday, 3 May 2026

Nature

 

Heart in Nature (Designer Jenny Burman)
The colours of nature
2003: New Zealand Landscapes
on land
and sea
1984: Flower

A  pink Mexican Creeper with its heart shaped leaves, also known as the Bee Bush 

1991 and 1988: Native Birds

Rock Wren - a songbird of the mountains where it stays even in winter. A kingfisher bringing colour to rivers and watery places.

Sunday Stamps A-Z today N for Nature, New Zealand and Nicaragua - See It On A Postcard 

Thursday, 30 April 2026

Blue Yonder

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is enjoying spring and the colour Blue

Apollo 11 Launch - 16 July 1969
A perfect launch from Cape Kennedy to set foot on the moon
Decent of Soyuz TMA19M Decent Module, June 2016
A safe deployment of parachute and a decent to Earth after six months orbiting our planet on the International Space Station
Zennor Village with Church of St Sennara and the Tinners Arms
Back on terra firma on the tip of England in Cornwall. It is said if one wants to find a pub then look for a church tower. St Sennara is a Breton saint and shows the Celtic connection between Cornwall and Brittany.


.At the Postal Museum you can travel underground on Mail Rail, a postal railway which once traversed London through narrow tunnels (1927-2003),  today the experience is just for pleasure. The Postal Museum started life in the basement of  GPO Headquarters in 1969. It moved in 1998 to Mount Pleasant archives but this card brings us to the present day. A publicity/donation appeal card issued in 2016. The Museum and Mail Rail opened in its present building in 2017.

Sunday, 26 April 2026

Majestic

 

1965: Birds

Its that time of year when ones mind turns to holidays. Perhaps a trip to Malaysia where the locals might point out a Murai Gajah (Asian Fairy Bluebird) on a tree.

 

1994: Malaysian Airlines inaugural flight cover

 Fly out of Malaysia to Buenos Aires to dance the tango under a moonlit Brazilian sky.  Where next? 

 
Travel back in time to the 1950s and the Hotel Majestic in Acapulco, Mexico
 
 
A sea view from their rooms
 
Definitive 1950s: Architecture and Archaeology 
 
Buy a Michoacan Mask as a memento although a lot of these dance masks look very scary.
 
 
Catch some sport at the Mexico City University Stadium. Built in 1952, at the time the largest stadium in Mexico. It is now called the Olympic Stadium after hosting the 1968 Summer Olympics
1969: Tourism
Enjoy visiting the Pyramids in the ancient city of Teotihuacan (place of the gods).  Not built by the Aztecs or Mayans but an ancient race, origins unknown.
  
Sunday Stamps A-Z for Mexico, Malaysia and Majestic - See It On A Postcard