Plants and echoes of war.

Another day, another Iris. This time a blue one.

The extra shows a miniature forest of horsetails, an ancient group of plants whose ancestors were browed by dinosaurs. Modern horsetails are only a few centimetres high but their ancestors included tree-like species up to 200 feet in height living in the Carboniferous forests. They all evolved long before the flowering plants came along and they produce spores rather than seeds.


The structures in the distance are the remains of  the radio masts of a second world war LORAN station on the cliffs above Port Errol.. The station was one of many run by the RAF to provide a means of navigation for aircraft on missions over Europe. The acronym stands for Long Range Aid to Navigation. For an explanation of how it all works look here.