Protect Biodiversity.....

Hi ! The Portuguese Post Office (CTT) has recently issued a very beautiful set of stamps, Miniature sheets and Max Cards on Biodiversity.These nice philatelic items issued on 22 April 2009 depict images of ponds with birds, fishes or trees.The 32 centimos stamp includes the image of a snipe, the 68 centimos, a butterfly, the 80 centimos stamp, a Dragonfly and the 2 euros stamp, a Cedar tree. The issue is a joint effort between CTT and the Institute of the Conservation of the Nature which celebrates the diversity of life in the region and ongoing efforts to protect habitats. Here are the awesome philatelic items on Biodiversity. Well, all the Max Cards are so beautiful that anyone would like to include them in wildlife / biodiversity / environment theme collection. Just wonderful items from Portugal ! Hope you would enjoy all these items. This is all for today !.....Till Next Post ....Have a Nice Time !.....

Magnificent Max Cards

FDC and Miniature sheets

Biodiversity - Lagoas – Azores

This issue, with a regional theme from the Azores, publicises some of the lakes of the archipelago: Lagoa Comprida (Flores Island), Lagoa do Caldeirão (Corvo), Lagoa do Capitão (Pico), Lagoinha (Terceira), Lagoa da Fajã de Santo Cristo (São Jorge) and Lagoa das Furnas (São Miguel). By depicting the natural environment of these six lakes, the issue also evokes the plant and animal communities of the surrounding areas. The Azores juniper (Juniperus brevifolia) and the ivy (Hedera azorica) represent the flora. For the local fauna appear the woodcock (Scolopax rusticola), the brown butterfly (Hipparchia azorina) and the dragonfly (Anax imperator), the tufted duck (Aythya ferina), the common teal (Anas crecca), the capped heron (Ardea cinerea) and the rosy tern (Sterna dougallii), besides the clam (Ruditapes decussatus), the famous Fajã de Santo Cristo clam, the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) and the tessellate moray (Muraena helena).

Through their natural beauty, the lakes on the Azores have contributed substantially for the archipelago to be considered, by international sustained tourism, as the second-best group of islands in the world. In fact, from the geological, biological and economic point of view, the lakes represent an important heritage that should be protected. They are fundamental, for instance, for the water cycle, for balancing the landscape and for the Atlantic routes of migratory birds. By selecting these six lakes on the Azores as philatelic theme, the Portuguese Post Office (CTT Correios de Portugal) aim to underline some of the features of the surrounding biodiversity.

This issue is the result of a protocol signed between the Portuguese Post Office and the Institute of Nature and Biodiversity Conservation, and follows the company’ desire to contribute to the major European objective of ”stopping biodiversity loss before 2010”.

Courtesy - The Portuguese Post Office (CTT)