This is another theme I struggled with.  I haven’t got any photos of schools or school days and even my photos of fish aren’t quite right because some of the fish are pointing in the wrong direction.  But I shall share this one with you, which is the best I have to hand.

From Wiki:

In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are said to be shoaling (pronounced /ˈʃoʊlɪŋ/), and if, in addition, the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are said to be schooling (pronounced /ˈskuːlɪŋ/).^[1] In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely.^[1] About one quarter of fishes shoal all their lives, and about one half of fishes shoal for part of their lives.^[2]

Fish derive many benefits from shoaling behaviour including defence against predators (through better predator detection and by diluting the chance of individual capture), enhanced foraging success, and higher success in finding a mate. It is also likely that fish benefit from shoal membership through increased hydrodynamic efficiency.

Fish use many traits to choose shoalmates. Generally they prefer larger shoals, shoalmates of their own species, shoalmates similar in size and appearance to themselves, healthy fish, and kin (when recognized).

The “oddity effect” posits that any shoal member that stands out in appearance will be preferentially targeted by predators. This may explain why fish prefer to shoal with individuals that resemble themselves. The oddity effect would thus tend to homogenize shoals.

For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.

Last week one of the girls at work was commenting that the youngest member of our team will soon be turning 20. Then she went on to remark that she was old enough to be his mother and I was old enough to by his grandmother. I know I have joked in the past that I am old enough to be his mother (which I am) but the figures don’t add up to turn that into grandmother status. The comment about me caused a stunned silence all around the office. I am not sure if the comment was supposed to be humour or if it was just thoughtlessness (again).

This girl has always had a hang up about age and loves to comment on other people’s ages and point out who is ahead of her in years. This year she is having one of those ‘will life change?’ ‘0′ birthdays!

Later in the day she got onto her favourite topic I felt obliged to tell her that she couldn’t possibly do that sort of thing any more. She has been telling us all for years that you shouldn’t after a certain age because that was just disgusting :-O

In the early 1860s, he erected a hothouse alongside the green house in the kitchen garden to provide him with the specialized growing environment he needed for experimentation. The compartments adjoined one another; with interconnecting doors and wooden benches on either side running the length of them. Sloping glass roofs captured the sun’s rays and a boiler system kept the environment warm and well suited to delicate species. Darwin quickly filled his new hothouse laboratory with specimens from his friend Joseph Hooker at Kew, and was soon in the thrall of his new occupation. *

Today the greenhouses are still stocked with the same type of plant specimens that Darwin cultivated for his botanical research.  The species include;  Orchids, Carnivorous plants, Comet orchids, Climbing plants and Common Toadflax.

If you look closely at the first photograph you will see that one of the zombies I mentioned in my post yesterday has strayed from it’s horde. Perhaps it should keep well clear of those carnivorous plants!

*From the English Heritage guide book.

The experience was not as enjoyable as the other places I had been visiting and at first I couldn’t quite put my finger on what the problem was. But then it dawned on me, English Heritage do those audio tour guides rather than having real people in the rooms to talk too. The audio guides are very informative but you can get a bit of information overload.  Worst of all it means there are groups of zombie-like people all standing staring at the same thing for several minutes, it rather detracts from the experience.

You can probably tell from the photos that the sky was rather overcast although the rain did hold back until after we had finished our visit.

‘Sissinghurst and and St Loup are my spiritual homes,’ she later wrote. ‘and of course Knole, which is denied me for ever, through “a technical fault over which we have no control”, as they say on the radio.’

Although the house is in the care of the National Trust a large part of it is still lived in by the Sackville-Wests:

Today, the house is in the care of the National Trust; however, the Trust only owns the house and about 43 acres of the park. Considerably more than half the house is still home to the Sackville-Wests. Lord Sackville and his family still own the gardens and the rest of the surrounding estate. Knole’s garden is probably the largest private walled garden in Britain at 26 acres (30 including the ‘footprint’ of the house), and indeed is large enough to have the very unusual (essentially mediaeval) feature of a smaller walled garden inside itself. Knole Park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the park hosts the annual Knole Run, a prestigious schools cross-country race.

Unfortunately on the day I visited I wasn’t able to explore the grounds because it started to pour down with rain which was a shame. I suppose that gives me a good excuse to go back though.

So without further ado some garden views from Ightham Mote.

I was asked to crouch down and pose for a photo in front of the kennel, I declined. Can you blame me?