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The visitor centre, formerly a lifeboat station

Blakeney Point is a National Nature Reserve near Blakeney on the north coast of Norfolk, England. It features a 6.4 km (4 mi) spit of shingle stones and sand dunes, as well as salt marshes and tidal mudflats. Land reclamation projects starting in the 17th century broadened the spit, but silted up nearby river channels. Ruins of a medieval dwelling called Blakeney Chapel and a monastery are buried in the marshes. The area has been studied for more than a century, following pioneering ecological studies by botanist Francis Wall Oliver and a bird ringing programme initiated by ornithologist Emma Turner. The reserve is important for breeding birds, especially terns, and for migrating birds in autumn. Up to 500 seals at a time gather at the end of the spit, and its sand and shingle hold a number of specialised invertebrates and plants, including the edible samphire. The spit is moving towards the mainland at about 1 m (1 yd) per year; several former islets have been covered by the advancing shingle and then lost to the sea. Managed by the National Trust since 1912, Blakeney Point lies within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a World Biosphere Reserve. (Full article...)

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Lucca with her handler

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In the news

Teodoro Obiang

Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (pictured) is re-elected as President of Equatorial Guinea.
All Super Puma helicopters worldwide are grounded after 13 people are killed in a crash near Bergen, Norway.
The National Museum of Natural History, in New Delhi, India, and its entire collection, are destroyed by fire.
In the UK, following a second inquest, the jury reaches a verdict of unlawful killing in respect of the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989.
Kenyans Eliud Kipchoge and Jemima Sumgong win the men's and women's London Marathon, respectively.

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On this day...

May 1: International Workers' Day; Easter (Eastern Christianity, 2016); Beltane in Ireland and Scotland; Law Day and Loyalty Day in the United States

Scene from Citizen Kane

1576 – Stephen Báthory and Anna Jagiellon were crowned as the elected rulers of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1786 – The Marriage of Figaro, an opera buffa composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna.
1897 – The Ramakrishna Mission was founded by Swami Vivekananda to serve as the humanitarian counterpart to the Hindu monastic order Ramakrishna Math.
1941 – Citizen Kane (scene pictured), a widely acclaimed film by actor and director Orson Welles, premiered.
1956 – A doctor in Japan reported an "epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system", marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.

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Today's featured picture

Pisces is a constellation of the zodiac. Its name is the Latin plural for fish. It lies between Aquarius to the west and Aries to the east. The ecliptic and the celestial equator intersect within this constellation and in Virgo. In Greek mythology, Pisces was associated with Aphrodite and Eros, who escaped from the monster Typhon by leaping into the sea and transforming themselves into fish.

Illustration: Sidney Hall; restoration: Adam Cuerden

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