Bee Fauna Of The Isle Of Man

Click On The Image For More Information

The Isle of Man Post Office is pleased to present this beautiful stamp issue dedicated to one of our most popular and beloved insects and recognising its crucial role in the life cycle of the natural world.

Apart from the honeybee, the Isle of Man is home to approximately 15 species of bumblebee and 57 species of solitary bee. To put this into perspective, currently there are known to be 24 species of bumblebees and over 200 solitary bee species recorded from the British Isles. On the Island these bees can be found foraging from flowers on our mountain moorlands where the lovely Bilberry Bumblebee, amongst several other bee species, can be found visiting bilberry and heather flowers, right down to the Island’s coastal fringes where a number of bees make a living on the Ayres and the soft cliffs of Ramsey Bay for example.

Most of us will be familiar with some of the various species of bumblebees that visit our garden flower beds, but the solitary bees will be less familiar and it may be only when they are nesting in our lawns or flower beds that we may notice them. They are called solitary because, unlike the honey and bumble bees, there is no worker caste and they do not live in colonies although they can form large nesting aggregations such as those of Colletes succinctus.

Click On The Image For More Information

Other solitary bees, known as cuckoo bees, forgo the labour of building and provisioning their own nests but sneak their eggs into the nests of other bees and where they develop and eliminate their competition for the nest’s provisions. The silver and white Epeolus variegatus is one such cuckoo bee which can be found on the Ayres where it takes advantage of the efforts of bees such as species of the genus Colletes.

On the Isle of Man there are in the region of 120 beekeepers with varying numbers of colonies, 100 of them are fully paid-up Members of the IOM Beekeepers Federation affiliated to the BBKA, comprising of three districts. It is estimated that there are at least 400 colonies kept by these beekeepers or the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

Click On The Image For More Information

These images are so life-like you can almost smell the honey as this issue is made extra special printed on honey-scented paper.
Please visit our website at www.iomstamps.com to find out more about the Bee Fauna of the Isle of Man collection of stamps and products and to pre-order.

Harbour Lights – Minor Lighthouses of the Isle of Man: A Guiding Light…

The Isle of Man Post Office is pleased to present Harbour Lights, a set of six stamps depicting minor lighthouses around the Isle of Man. We commissioned local artist Tracey Dean to prepare new paintings which truly capture the elegance of the familiar landmarks.
Local historian Stan Basnett writes:
The principal Lighthouses around the Isle of Man are maintained by the Commissioners of Northern Lights and are not the only lighthouses around the Island. Each harbour being protected by minor lights erected on the extremities of piers and breakwaters many of which are also being fitted with an audible device such as a horn or bell for use in fog.

When built their purpose was vital to vessels entering harbour at night or in restricted visibility.
Their importance has since diminished through the use of modern equipment such as radar and GPS. They still however have a useful part to play as an aid to navigation. Prior to the Revestment Act of 1765 the responsibility for the Island’s harbours lay with the Duke of Atholland the Island’s Government. After that date the harbours came under the control of the Admiralty and the Crown. Ultimately they reverted to the Isle of Man Harbour Commissioners and still remain the responsibility of the Manx Government through the Department of Infrastructure
The outer harbour at Castletown is protected by a small breakwater on the end of which is a superb limestone built lighthouse. It carries an inscription that clearly states that it was built in AD 1849 at which time Castletown was the capital of the Island and the harbour was more important than now. The lighthouse displays an occulting red light every 15 seconds and is visible for 8 miles. The approach to the inner harbour carries a smaller “pepper pot” lighthouse displaying an occulting red light every 4 seconds visible for 4 miles.

This stamp depicts the lighthouse on the end of the Battery Pier at Douglas, which was completed in 1876 and formed the outer breakwater for the harbour. The light exhibited alternate white and red lights every 15 seconds and had a bell fog signal of one ring every 2 seconds. When a new breakwater was completed in 1983 a new light was erected on an unpretentious metal mast and as a result the original light now displays a considerably reduced quick flashing red light.
The harbour at Laxey owes its origin to the lead mining industry. Responsibility for it passed to the IOM Harbour Commissioners in 1890 who then commenced work on the construction of a breakwater which was completed in 1893. The stone built lighthouse on the seaward end exhibits an occulting green light every 3 seconds visible for 7 miles. The smaller inner light on the end of Rowe’s Pier displays an occulting red light every 3 seconds also visible for 7 miles.

Peel harbour is protected by five lights and the one depicted on this stamp is the oldest and located on the outer breakwater which was completed in 1896. It is an elegant octagonal cast iron structure erected on the raised head at the extremity of the breakwater. It displays a white occulting light every 7 seconds and is visible for 11 miles. It did have a fog signal in the form of a bell giving 4 rings every 12 seconds.
The harbour entrance at Ramsey has a channel trained between two piers. The South Pier was extended in 1876 and the stamp depicts the hexagonal cast iron lighthouse erected at its seaward end. It displays an occulting red light every 5 seconds and is visible for 8 miles. As the channel is effectively a navigable channel the North Pier exhibits a green light as an aid to ships entering the port. In the background is the Ramsey Queen’s Pier, now disused, which was built as a low water landing pier.
The harbour at Port St Mary has two piers. The Alfred Pier completed in 1886 protects the outer harbour and until recently carried one of the elegant hexagonal cast iron lighthouses but a severe storm washed it off the pier and it has been replaced with a light on a steel post. The drying inner harbour is protected by the Quay which is a much earlier structure and carries its original lighthouse, depicted on the stamp, which exhibits an occulting red light every 3 seconds visible for 8 miles.
Please visit our website at www.iomstamps.com to find out more about our stamps and products.

Titanic – Ship Of Dreams – A Reflection…

The Isle of Man Post Office presents a set of six stamps to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the loss of RMS Titanic after striking an iceberg. It is one of the deadliest maritime disasters in peacetime history, more than 1,500 passengers and crew died in the early hours of 15th April 1912.

Captained by Edward John Smith, one of the company’s most respected and experienced officers, and billed as the largest and most luxurious ship in the world, the Titanic was on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, when tragedy struck.

The trip had begun five days earlier when 914 passengers boarded the liner with 884 members of crew, including a squash professional, swimming pool lifeguards, Turkish bath attendants and a chaperone for single women in third class – four firemen missed the sailing because they were in the pub. First class passengers lost included John Jacob Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim and Macy’s owner Isidor Strauss. Chairman of the White Star Line, Joseph Bruce Ismay, survived the tragedy.

They marvelled at the grand staircase, which ran through six decks, the sumptuous staterooms, oak and mahogany panelling and luxurious fitted carpets, before being escorted to their rooms by stewards.

Second and third class passengers entered through a corridor and were directed to their rooms. They included schoolteacher Lawrence Beesley, who wrote an account of the disaster and seven-year-old schoolgirl Eva Hart, whose life was saved after her mother had a premonition and refused to sleep. At midday Titanic steamed into the Channel and headed for Cherbourg, where a further 274 passengers joined the voyage and then on to Queenstown, in southern Ireland, where they picked up a further 136 passengers and the Irish mail. At 1.30pm on 11th April, Titanic headed into the Atlantic for what was expected to be a six-day voyage.

The first class passengers enjoyed lavish facilities. The catering was exquisite: on 14th April, the ten-course dinner included oyster, consommé, poached salmon, filet mignon, lamb, duckling or sirloin of beef, punch romaine, roast squab, asparagus, paté de foie gras and Waldorf pudding. But for some, it was to be their last supper.

At 11.39pm lookout, Fred Fleet, spotted the iceberg looming in the dark. He rang the bell three times and telephoned the bridge. First Officer Murdoch immediately gave the order ‘hard-a-starboard’ and signalled the engine room ‘stop’ but the liner was cruising at 22 knots and within a minute it had struck the iceberg. Captain Smith rushed to the bridge. After inspecting the damage, it was clear that the ship was doomed: although there was only a small hole, the iceberg had buckled the steel plates and sheered the rivets below the waterline; water was spilling over the bulkheads, flooding the first six compartments and weighing the At 12.05am, the order was given to uncover the lifeboats. But the operation was disorganised. Eighteen lifeboats were launched – the first at 12.45am; the last at 2.05am. Ten minutes after the last lifeboat was launched, the bridge was under water and the forward funnel collapsed. Within five minutes the Titanic gave a sudden lurch and threw the two remaining lifeboats into the sea. There was a rumbling like thunder from the bowels of the ship and at 2.20am the lights went out and the Titanic sank, plunging more than 1,500 people, including Captain Smith, into the icy sea. But it was the heroism of the band that will always be remembered. As the stern began to rise, violinist Wallace W Hartley, who was band leader, told the other seven musicians they could stand down. But they remained. All of them sacrificed their lives for their courage.

HM Queen Elizabeth II – Diamond Jubilee 1952-2012

HM Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee First Day Cover

We are  pleased to present a set of six stamps to commemorate the Queen’s reign.

The issue date for this collection is Feb 6th 2012.You can now pre order the collection here.  Please see the terms and conditions for pre ordering here. The collection will be available to order on our eBay Store from Monday 30th January 2012. Please also note that items will be dispatched from the issue date onwards. Please be aware the issue date for the miniature sheet is on HM Queen’s birthday, 21st April 2012.

Each year one of the themes of the Christmas message to the Nation and the Commonwealth is a reflection of events during the year, we are pleased to include extracts from some of the broadcasts.

HM Queen Elizabeth II - Diamond Jubiliee Miniture Sheet

58 Pence Stamp
This photograph of the Queen was taken when she attended a film premiere in 1955. That year her Christmas Message, broadcast live from her study at Sandringham, focused on the Commonwealth.

She said: ‘Great opportunities lie before us. Indeed a large part of the world looks to the Commonwealth for a lead. We have already gone far towards discovering for ourselves how different nations, from North and South, from East and West, can live together in friendly brotherhood, pooling the resources of each for the benefit of all. Every one of us can also help in this great adventure, for just as the Commonwealth is made up of different nations, so those nations are made up of individuals. The greater the enterprise the more important our personal contribution.’

£1.10 Stamp
When this official photograph was taken of the Queen in 1968, she had already visited Brazil and Chile. It was the year in which civil rights leader Martin Luther King was shot dead in Memphis and the Queen focused her Christmas broadcast from Buckingham Palace on the theme of brotherhood.
She said: ‘Christmas is a Christian festival, which celebrates the birth of the Prince of Peace. At times it is almost hidden by the merry making and tinsel, but the essential message of Christmas is still that we all belong to the great brotherhood of man. This idea is not limited to the Christian faith. Philosophers and prophets have concluded that peace is better than war, love is better than hate and that mankind can only find progress in friendship and co-operation. Many ideas are being questioned today, but these great truths will continue to shine out as the light of hope in the darkness of intolerance and inhumanity.’

HM Queen Elizabeth II - Diamond Jubilee Presentation Pack

38 Pence Stamp
Taken in 1979, the international Year of the Child, when thousands of refugees fled the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, this picture features the Queen on horseback during the Trooping of the Colour. That year she visited Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana and Zambia.
In her Christmas message she said: ‘This year people all over the world have been asked to give particular thought to the special needs of sick and handicapped children, to the hungry and homeless and to those in trouble or distress wherever they may be found. It is an unhappy coincidence that political and economic forces have made this an exceptionally difficult and tragic year for many families and children in several parts of the world – but particularly in South East Asia. The situation has created a desperately serious challenge and I am glad to know that so many people of the Commonwealth have responded with wonderful generosity and kindness.’

68 Pence Stamp
In 1982, the year of the Falklands War, the Queen undertook two Commonwealth tours – of Canada, Australia and the Pacific. She is photographed here in Tuvalu where she and Prince Philip were borne aloft in ceremonial litters. That year her Christmas message marked the 50th anniversary of the first yuletide broadcast and was filmed for the first time in the library at Windsor Castle.
She said: ‘The poet John Donne said: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” That is the message of the Commonwealth and it is also the Christian message. Christ attached supreme importance to the individual and he amazed the world in which he lived by making it clear that the unfortunate and the underprivileged had an equal place in the Kingdom of Heaven with the rich and powerful. But he also taught that man must do his best to live in harmony with man and to love his neighbours.’

HM Queen Elizabeth II - Diamond Jubilee Single Stamps

37 Pence Stamp
This portrait was taken by photographer Terry O’Neill in 1990, the year that the Queen celebrated her mother’s 90th birthday and the christening of her youngest grandchild. But the threat of war in the Gulf dominated her Christmas message as she paid tribute to servicemen around the world.
She said: ‘I want, therefore, to say thank you today to the men and women who, day in and day out, carry on their daily life in difficult and dangerous circumstances. By just getting on with the job, they are getting the better of those who want to harm our way of life. Let us think of them this Christmas, wherever they are in the world, and pray that their resolution remains undiminished. It is they and their kind who, by resisting the bully and the tyrant, ensure that we live in the sort of world in which we can celebrate this season safely with our families.’

HM Queen Elizabeth II -Diamond Jubilee 1952 - 2012 Souvenir Sheet

£1.82 Stamp
The Queen stayed closer to home in 2008 – the year her son, Prince Charles, celebrated his 60th birthday – visiting Slovenia and Slovakia. She is photographed at the Derby at Epsom racecourse that summer, one of her favourite events of the season. That year her Christmas message was reflective.

She said: ‘In this 90th year since the end of the First World War, the last survivors recently commemorated the service and enormous sacrifice of their own generation. Their successors in theatres such as Iraq and Afghanistan are still to be found in harm’s way in the service of others. For their loved ones, the worry will never cease until they are safely home. In such times as these we can all learn some lessons from the past. We might begin to see things in a new perspective. And certainly, we begin to ask ourselves where it is that we can find lasting happiness. Over the years, those who have seemed to me to be the most happy, contented and fulfilled have always been the people who have lived the most outgoing and unselfish lives; the kind of people who are generous with their talents or their time. I think we have a huge amount to learn from individuals such as these.’

HM Queen Elizabeth II - Diamond Jubilee Sheet Set