Abbie was here during the summer working with Paul on marketing. Her efforts have definitely had a marked effect on the amount of enquiries now being received. She received her certificate from Bob Allison, the Pro Vice Chancellor, pictured, at the end of the project.

On a mild grey and wet day this month in Dublin in 1845 the potato blight arrived. Following this, Ireland was crippled for a century and, although no one realized at the time, the weather was responsible.
The fungus, Phytophthora infestans, probably came to Europe in 1844 and reached Ireland in August 1845. Germination was easy for the fungus spores as there was plenty of moisture around; splashing rain and gentle winds aided the spread to surrounding plants. By October, millions of ripe tubers had turned black and a nauseous stench pervaded the country. In the wettest regions, 40 per cent of the crop was ruined. The famine began in spring 1846 when every last scrap of edible potato had been consumed. In August, amid torrential rain and wild thunderstorms, the blight drifted with the prevailing winds across the country again and the potato crop was annihilated.
An Ghorta Mor, ‘The Great Hunger’ continued until 1849. At least a million died. Another million emigrated on the ‘coffinships’ to the New World.

This famine affected the Irish deeply. Although the Irish might still joke about the weather, they never joke about the potato.

The Mediterranean snail not thought to exist in the UK has been found as part of a 100 year colony at Cliveden House. The snail from the med is 11mm long and a colony of several hundred has been found. This snail shares some similarities with another invasive alien species – Japanese knotweed.

However, luckily there are some crucial differences. The snails do not appear to be having a negative impact on other organisms and are not spreading at a huge rate and posing problems to the construction and development industry. Another ironic difference comes because Japanese knotweed was knowingly introduced to the UK as an ornamental plant and has had a large negative effect, where as these snails snuck into the UK with an imported Italian marble balustrade, yet have remained undiscovered and posed no problems over the last 100 years.

According to records, the UK has only just managed to reach half of the average sunshine hours for August this year. September doesn’t look any more promising either!