Ukraine - Flora and Fauna from the Black Sea: On may 22nd, the Ukrainian postal service issued this souvenir sheet in a joint issue with the Bulgarian postal service. The issue features the flora and fauna of the Black Sea, and the stamps depict the short-beaked common Black Sea dolphin, and the Barnea candida mollusc respectively. Both of these are native to the Black Sea, and are part of a rich marine wildlife. Although the marine life is rich, it is not very diverse. The reason for this lies in the fact that the Black Sea is relatively secluded from other large bodies of salt water, and as a consequence, the river-water that runs into the Black Sea, dilutes the salt content in the water. The salt level in the Black Sea is roughly half of the level seen in ocean around the world. This means that a wide range of animals and plants cannot live in the water, and hence the number of species is limited. The wildlife is rich as a consequence of the flow of river water, bringing an abundance of nutrients to the ocean. The two stamps in the sheet are denominated at N and E respectively, and can be found in the catalogue. The Bulgarian version can be found here. Spain - The 60's Generation: Last year, the Spanish postal service started a series of issues, representing the past decades, and this year they have produced issues for the 1960s and the 1970s. Our focus will be on the issue of the 1960s. The issue has four stamps in a souvenir sheet, and the four stamps depict an event that shaped the world, which occurred in the 1960s. The events on the stamps have been selected by collectors, and have been determined by vote. The four events are in chronological order: The Kennedy assassination in 1963, The first heart transplant in the world in 1967, The May 1968 student revolt in France, and the Moon landing in 1969. All of these events had a lasting impact on the world, and have played a large role in shaping the world as we know it today. The stamps are denominated between 0.50 and 1.35, and can be found in the catalogue here. |