Here are beautiful recent Charity stamps from Sweden. The motifs on the stamps are living landscape and attention WWF's work for a sustainable environment. SEK 10 for each purchased booklet goes to WWF. Charity Stamp 2015 will be issued simultaneously in Sweden and Denmark, with the same motif.
On the FDC, the motif is the WWF symbol, a panda bear. Joint Danish-Swedish First Day Cover. Design: Ditte Rosenørn Holm and Gustav Mårtensson. Final day for purchase was : November 7, 2015.
To be issued on : 21 March, 2012
This stamp issue, produced in association with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), recognizes some of the lesser-known species of seabird breeding on South Georgia. The species depicted are part of the rich biodiversity found in South Georgia's unique environment. WWF is one of the world's leading conservation organisations who work towards conservation and sustainability.
The cold waters around South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands are highly productive and provide rich feeding grounds for many species of seabirds. Twenty five species of seabird breed on South Georgia (with two additional species, Adélie penguin and Antarctic fulmar, breeding on the South Sandwich Islands) and many vagrant and non-breeding species are also seen around the islands.
Imperial shag (Phalacrocorax atriceps) (60p)
The imperial shag is found in rocky coastal areas and breeds in small colonies in most parts of South Georgia. They are a monogamous species and usually lay 2 -3 eggs (though can lay up to 5). Laying occurs in October/November with eggs taking 5 weeks to hatch and fledging occurring in March. Their nests are made of seaweed and grass glued together with mud and guano. Imperial shags forage mainly in inshore areas (though can also travel further offshore) on small fish, crustaceans, polychaetes, gastropods and octopuses. They dive down to an average of 28m for around 5 minutes to catch their prey, although they have been recorded to dive as deep as 70m.
Antarctic tern (Sterna vittata) (70p)
Distributed throughout the Southern Ocean and common throughout the year around South Georgia, the Antarctic tern start breeding from mid-November to early December with chicks fledging in January. Nesting close to shore in natural depressions in the rock or shallow scrapes in the ground, their eggs and chicks are well camouflaged. These small birds (31-38cm long) are susceptible to human disturbance and to predation of their eggs and chicks by rats, however they will defend their nest sites vigorously, dive-bombing anything passing too close. Feeding in inshore waters, often in the kelp zone, their main prey is small fish but they also take crustaceans, polychaetes, molluscs, insects and algae.
Southern skua (Catharacta antarctica) (95p)
The southern skua is a sub-Antarctic species and is regarded as having a stable population. They are distributed widely around South Georgia but are commonest on offshore islands where there are the greatest numbers of small burrowing petrels. Their hooked beak and webbed feet with sharp claws allow the skua to be a highly predatory bird, which, besides burrowing petrels, feed on penguin chicks and eggs. They will also scavenge on carrion on land as well as around fishing vessels. During the winter, skuas migrate northward, departing in April and returning to South Georgia in September. Egg laying starts in November with chicks fledging in late February.
Kelp gull (Larus dominicanus) (£1.15p)
Kelp gulls are omnivores with their diet depending on food availability. They take and scavenge on small prey including molluscs, fish, crustaceans, other seabirds and even chicks and eggs of their own species. This coastal gull is common throughout the year around South Georgia and inhabits sheltered bays. They build nests lined with vegetation and feathers which are little more than a shallow depression in the ground. Two or three eggs are laid during November to December and both parents raise the chicks. Fledging takes 45-61 days and the young gulls take 3-4 years to reach maturity.
In addition to the set, there is a Souvenir Sheet showing a Juvenile Southern skua (£3.50p) and a sheetlet of 16 (4 sets in staggered format) with face value of £13.20p.
Species information from Bird Life International species factsheets www.birdlife.org
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From Our Readers..
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Maxim Card prepared by Sanjiv Jain, Dehradun
Precious Stones
The German Post has issued a beautiful set of 3 stamps on 2 January 2012 featuring precious stones namely Ruby Sapphire and and Emerald. With this issue German Post celebrates the new 2012 year . These stamps are surcharged with extra amount and are being sold as welfare stamps in favor of voluntary welfare.
Thanks to Mr Wolfgang Beyer for this nice cover !!
New WWF Stamps from Bahamas
Flamingos
Date of Issue : 21 March 2012
This stamp issue, produced in association with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), illustrates the National Bird of the Bahamas.
Long ago, these beautiful birds were found all over the Bahamas, but they were killed for food and sport and taken away on passing ships on which they died. Now they are a protected species and watched over by the Society for the Protection of the Flamingo in The Bahamas through the Bahamas National Trust, a statutory body set up in 1959.
Caribbean flamingos, also called the greater flamingo and American flamingo, with their long spindly legs and feet, long and gracefully curved necks and fantastically bright pink feathers, legs and webbed feet are quite unmistakable. Another unique feature is of course their large hooked bill which is again pink but with a black tip. They grow to a height of around 47 to 55 inches and have a wingspan of around 5 feet. The sexes are similar in appearance although males tend to be larger than the females.
The Caribbean flamingo generally breeds between March and mid-July. Flamingos are very skittish and will fly away if disturbed. They are very vocal and have numerous calls. Breeding pairs have location calls to help locate each other and alarm calls are used to warn the group of danger. The usual call is a loud goose-like honking sound. The chicks even make calls while they are in the egg, which their parents learn to recognize.
The flamingo prefers areas with plenty of mud and water such as mudflats, brackish lakes and shallow coastal lagoons where it uses its backwards bending legs to stir up the mud in search of food which comprises seeds, blue-green algae, crustaceans and molluscs.
They are sociable creatures and live and breed in large colonies of several hundred or even thousands of individuals. Read More…
On the occasion of Gujarat Philatelic Exhibition, Gujpex 2011, held at Vadodara, from 23rd to 25th December 2011, a set of 22 special used picture postcards to commemorate the historic Dandi March and 3 special covers were released.
23 December 2011 : Captain Vijay Hazare
24 December 2011 : WWF
25 December 2011 : Birth Centenary of Thought Transformation, Shantikunj, Haridwar
: Ashwani Dubey - Gorakhpur
Date of Issue : 30 August 2011
This issue celebrates the 50th anniversary of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) with the release of its second joint Australian territories stamp issue.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2011. Officially registered as a charity on 11 September 1961, it was conceived to raise funds for the conservation of nature. With a mission to stop degradation of the natural environment and to preserve biodiversity, it has grown into one of the largest independent conservation networks worldwide.
Minisheet
Australian Joint Territory Issue : WWF – 50 Years
The stamps feature following animals :
Quokka (Setonix brachyurus) looks a little like a dumpy kangaroo, giving rise to its alternative common name of Shorttailed Wallaby. Herbivorous and mainly nocturnal, it is endemic to the south-western corner of Western Australia and most numerous on Rottnest and Bald Islands.
Christmas Island Shrew (Crocidura trichura) is extremely rare, possibly extinct. It was thought that this forest-dwelling mammal had vanished by 1908, but after an unconfirmed sighting in 1958 it was rediscovered in 1985, when two individuals were caught.
Dugong (Dugong dugon) gets its name from the Malay language, in which duyung means "lady of the sea" or "mermaid." It is known to occupy the waters of the Indo-Pacific, from the east coast of Africa to the central Pacific. A single male inhabiting the waters of Cocos (Keeling) Islands since 2002 demonstrates the species is capable of long-distance migration to colonise new environments.
Southern Elephant Seal (Mirounga leonina) inhabits mainly subantarctic regions. It spends most of its time at sea, usually between the north edge of the pack ice and the subantarctic convergence. It returns to land to breed, to give birth and to moult.
- Kenneth Sequeira
Vicente Ferrer - Humanitarian Activist who worked for the poors in South India
Country / Post : Spain
Date of Issue : 8 October 2010
Primary theme : Religions & beliefs (Famous religious people)
Subject : Personalities - Vicente Ferrer
Stamp issuing authority : Correos Y Telegrafos SA
Vicente Ferrer Moncho was a philanthropist (a candidate for the 2009 Nobel Prize) who spent his life working to improve the lives of the poor in the mission he founded in Southern India. Today the Vicente Ferrer Foundation carries out humanitarian projects in Andhra Pradesh, bringing aid to over 2.5 million poor people, many of whom are considered Dalit or untouchable. He was born in 1920 in Barcelona, Spain & died in 2009 in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
He arrived in India in 1952 as a Jesuit missionary. After deciding to increase his focus in helping the poor, in 1958 he created with a group of followers in Manmad, Mumbai. "Rural Development Association". This organization started with twelve acres of land and a school. Although, due to the crisis in the rural area, many peasants wanted to emigrate, Vicente Ferrer encouraged local peasants to dig wells and told them “I will pay you with wheat and oil.” He gave water pumps with credits and with no interests or guarantees. The organization reached 3,000 wells.
After the publication of the article “The silent revolution” in 1968 in the Illustrated Weekly, one of the most read Indian magazines at the time, he was expelled in 1968 by the Indian authorities. A year later, with the blessings of Indira Gandhi, he was granted permission to return so that he could continue his work in the poverty-stricken city of Anantapur. Eventually, he left the Jesuits but continued his humanitarian work.
After his return, he started another project in Anantapur ; he again set up irrigation systems, this time in a desert area that was completely barren. The cooperative work method that he instituted there goes by the name of "linked brotherhood": help is given to each peasant in digging his own well, with material and food for the length of the work. In 1998 he was awarded Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award for Concord.
Date of issue : 25 May 2011
In conjunction with WWF, Samoa Post released a set of four stamps and a Miniature sheet on 25 May 2011, featuring fruit doves of Samoa. It is a wonderful set depicting colorful fruit doves. A collectible item for the lovers of Bird theme.
The Many-coloured Fruit-Dove (Ptilinopus perousii), also known in Samoa as Manulua, is a small multi-coloured dove growing up to 250mm in length. The male dove is a pale yellow-white colour with a red-crimson crown and bar across its back. The female is mostly green and grey on the head and breast with a red-crimson crown and undertail area known as coverts. These red-crimson coverts differentiate these doves from those of Fiji and Tonga where the coverts are yellow.
They are primarily found in large mature forest areas in the south-western Pacific - Samoa, Fiji and Tonga - where lowland tropical and sub-tropical forests provide a natural habitat. These birds feed predominantly on fruit and berries found in the high canopy and are partial to figs and also the fruit of the banyan tree. They are very protective of their feeding areas.
It is in the canopy where a small platform of twigs is fashioned into a nest, a single egg is laid and the young nurtured. Reduction in habitat has led to a decreased population, although the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for these doves to be considered vulnerable under conservation criteria.
