Holiday snaps from Castle Brass (Aigues Mortes)

[GuyLawley]

I had the pleasure one day last week of lunching in the French town of Aigues Mortes, and I have put some photos of this interesting place in the Limbo album.

Oh no – it’s the dreaded holiday snaps !!

Ah yes, but these are holiday snaps from the future site of Castle Brass, HQ of Dorian Hawkmoon and Count Brass in their heroic struggles against the Dark Empire, as featured in the Runestaff and Castle Brass series.

Of course, readers can google Aigues Mortes (this site has some good pics, if rather small -- http://www.casteland.com/puk/castle/...guesmor/am.htm) but a few more (bigger) pictures of the ramparts of this amazingly well preserved medieval town may yet be welcomed by the discerning Hawkmoon fan... he burbled.

So my modest offerings can be found here and on the following page:

[broken link]

What I don’t have is the classic aerial shot, which can be found online, showing the complete rectangular wall around the town. Very impressive and worth a visit.

I also saw plenty of handsome white horses, the famous flamingos, and glimpsed en passant some big black cattle/bulls in a field. After Hawkmoon and co, these are of course the best known inhabitants of the Camargue / Kamarg.

[Ant]

Are the salt marshes strangely red for the same reason that the flamingos are pink?

Cordialement,
Ant

[GuyLawley]

No.

The flamingo's bright pink color is due to its diet. The carotene from the shrimp or other shrimp-like crustaceans in its diet turns its feathers pink. If the diet is low in carotene, the feathers become white.

The salt marshes do not eat shrimp or other shrimp-like crustaceans, and even if they did, salt marshes don't have feathers.

I should have thought that was all fairly obvious.

:)

[GuyLawley]

Or, on the other hand, yes!!

A bit more googling turns up this;

"The colouring, water rose, is linked to the proliferation of micro-organisms of a microscopic algae variety called "dunaliella salina".
On the salt marshes of Aigues-Mortes, the exploitation of l'Artemia Salina complements the salt producing activities. Artemia constitutes quality feed for fish and crustaceans. "

This is confusing as Artemia are not algae but brine shrimp. The confusion may come from the translation of a French site.

Here's some more stuff:

"Dunaliella Salina algae are packed with health-promoting nutrients. The unmatched carotenoid content of Dunaliella Salina provides a myriad of health-supportive effects.
Dunaliella is a unique unicellular species of algae harvested from the Dead Sea containing rich concentrations of carotenoids (mainly Beta-Carotene), antioxidants and essential vitamins. "


This is getting almost too interesting, doncha think?

Carotene produced by algae is eaten by brine shrimp which are then eaten by flamingos....

So the salt marshes really are red for the same reason as the flamingos are pink!

Ant, you knew that all along didn’t you? You were just teasing us!

[Ant]

... Ant, you knew that all along didn’t you? You were just teasing us!

But Ant just smiled a secret and superior smile.



Actually, I didn't know this... I just felt there should be a connection... :D Thanks for your research! As I said before, you do learn stuff here.

Cordialement,
Ant

[Count_Brass]

So obviously I must double the guards! A spy from Granbretan managed to smuggle in a photographic device, a tremendous risk to security.

[GuyLawley]

It's OK, really. I'm with the resistance! Onnist, yer worhipfulness.

You can put that unfeasibly large sword down now.

[Zax]

As any fule kno, the flamingo is permanently flushed with annoyance at the monotony of its diet ('Bloody shrimp again! Wish I was a heron...'), hence its pink colouring.

[GuyLawley]

There had to be a simple explanation!
:)