A downward spiral and a hunting harrier – readers' best photographs
'An aerial view of a half-frozen Pangong Tso, an endorheic lake spanning eastern Ladakh and west Tibet.' Photograph: Matt Hunt
'A cormorant basking in the morning sun.' Photograph: Allan Charter
'Two fishers at sunrise. The annual salmon run was in full swing near the Simms Creek and beach fishing by human fishers was as well. I was so focused on the fisher that only after seeing the photo did I notice the heron.' Photograph: Graham Wallace
'I thought the early roses against the bright blue sky made for a stunning burst of colour.' Photograph: Helena Gardiner
'A northern harrier glides low over grassland hunting for food at Duck Marsh Preserve in Pomfret.' Photograph: Nancy L Barrett
'Filling time waiting for our taxi to the airport from the very photogenic Hotel Magnolia.' Photograph: John Main
'Back at the beginning of the month, the tidal range was quite high and here at the marine pool the built-up causeway creates a bridge that is used as a shortcut. But in another hour, the incoming tide will start to flow over this manmade dam and into the pool, and will eventually start to cover the safety railings.' Photograph: Peter Norton
'Nesting kittiwakes at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. I came to see the art and then discovered a viewing platform looking on to the birds nesting on the ledges.' Photograph: Karen Rollison
Photograph: Greg Curran
'The 'cheese grater' car park, beautifully reflected by a nearby building.' Photograph: Alex Flynn
'Crystal Palace fans marching through Leicester Square on Saturday 26 April, just hours before beating Aston Villa 3-0 in the FA Cup semi-final.' Photograph: Sebastian Kettley
'Taken on the Staten Island ferry on a grey day.' Photograph: Alexandra Ashby
'This lovely young deer is a regular visitor to my garden. He's usually alone, possibly an orphan, but hopefully resourceful enough to survive.' Photograph: Tamara Lucatz
'My eye was caught by the orange of the bee, vivid against the bluebell.' Photograph: Sue Norton
'A fabulous tree at Woburn Abbey pictured through an arch.'
Photograph: Antony O'Brien
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Dragon Diffusion and Rixo have created the perfect summer bag – and it's back in stock
For the second year in a row, Dragon Diffusion is dominating the summer wardrobes of the fashion crowd. Its popularity is part of a wider growing demand for affordable luxury. In a climate of spiraling costs, it's no surprise that interest in labels such as Longchamp (see the le pilage) and Coach is up. Founded in 1985, Dragon Diffusion uses traditional basket weaving techniques to create its designs, which are handwoven in India. From the Instagram-viral nantucket style (£390, to the egola bag (£410, all the designs cost less than £500. In a match made in bag heaven, Dragon Diffusion announced a collaboration with the beloved British fashion label Rixo last month. Naturally, the accessories and bags sold out within weeks. Now, with summer officially here, the collection is back in stock. Talking about the launch, Orlagh McCloskey, CEO and co-founder of Rixo said: 'I've long admired the brand's dedication to artisanal craft, authenticity, and modern sophistication. The vintage-inspired bags and belts are perfect for warm-weather days and designed to be loved season after season.' The seven-strong capsule includes two handwoven leather bag styles in various colourways and a statement belt, with pieces ranging from £145 to £385. Celebrating the artistry of traditional weaving, the amoria bag draws inspiration from Japanese bamboo basketry while nodding to Sixties-style French basket bags. It looks like the perfect everyday size – it's sold out in the green and tan colourway, but it's still available in black. This might be my favourite affordable designer bag I've seen this season. The lucine bag is generously sized, making it an ideal companion for beach days, long weekends or travelling. The same handwoven leather techniques as Dragon Diffusion's recognisable bags have been employed here, and it's available in two neutral colourways – classic tan (sold out) and deep dark brown – to slot seamlessly into your summer wardrobe. This statement belt has been inspired by a vintage piece discovered by Orlagh McCloskey and has been designed to be mixed and matched with your favourite Rixo dresses. Available in brown and black, I've added it straight to my basket.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
The man who turned a polluted pirate hotspot into a fly-fishing paradise
After the pirates hijacked the boat we chartered, the government shut down the whole Outer Islands of Seychelles. We weren't allowed back to Cosmoledo for five years.' The man who tells me this looks as if he was built outdoors. Sun-burnished and wind-drawn, Keith Rose-Innes is an adventurer, entrepreneur, fly-fishing guide and current custodian of Cosmoledo atoll. I try not to think about Somali pirates with AK-47s as I shift my feet in the sand. Cosmoledo is a faraway island paradise by any measure. From London I flew to Dubai, caught a plane to Mahé, the main island of the Seychelles, before taking a 14-seater turboprop for a two-and-a-half-hour flight to Astove Atoll. I then waded over the coral and turtle grass to board a small boat, eventually landing on Cosmoledo an hour later. I am rewarded by the sight of 100,000 sooty terns circling each other in a dizzying mating dance. Their squawks, and the ripple of waves, are the only soundtrack. It is a truly grand spectacle to see so many birds, as they flock – each evening throughout the spring – to the same patch of sky. In just a few hours I've seen a giant coconut crab – the world's largest terrestrial arthropod, which is diminishing in numbers – scuttle past. Ringed plovers gorge on washed-up shrimp in the surf line. Frigatebirds, pirates of the sky, snatch food from red-footed boobies midair, and baby turtles, smaller than teabags, stutter out of their nests, making their maiden voyage to salt water. It's easy to believe that life abounds here thanks to a lucky cocktail of remoteness and climate. The truth is much more fragile. Without the determination and vision of Rose-Innes and his team, Cosmoledo could easily have become just another item in the list of miraculous places now withering in the dark shadow of human interference. And this story of restoration has an unlikely beginning: the sport of fly-fishing. Rose-Innes grew up catching trout with his grandfather in South Africa, and on trips across the continent with his father. After a stint of studying to be an art director in Cape Town, the call of fish – and the wild places they live in – was too strong. To get his foot in the fly-fishing door he rigged tackle for hedge fund managers in London's legendary fishing shop, Farlows, in Mayfair. In 1999, at the age of 22, he started guiding on the more accessible islands of the Seychelles. During the off season, he would lead anglers on a far-flung salmon river in Arctic Russia. He began chartering dive boats, filling them with fly-fishermen, and exploring the Seychelles. 'The fishing was mind-blowing,' he says, 'and I was young, ambitious and competitive. I wanted my clients to catch the biggest fish, to grow the business and to build my name. We were getting more bookings, and so I started looking for more fishing grounds; ideally another atoll, so we could run a second boat.' These were the days before Google Earth. Rose-Innes searched for a new atoll the old-fashioned way, squinting at maps in a dusty colonial office on Mahé. It was here that he found a nautical chart of Cosmoledo. The elegant typeface at the top read, 'From a survey by Comdr. W.J.L. Wharton in 1878… with corrections by Comdr. D.W. Haslam, HMS Owen, 1964.' He first laid eyes on Cosmoledo in 2005. 'Those first trips were like the Wild West. On the first day we grounded Mieke, a 100ft schooner. The old charts I had picked up were all wrong.' After spending time walking among the atoll's 18 islands and 145 square kilometres of reef flats, they began to grasp the scale of the opportunity. Soon there was a waiting list of people looking to join Rose-Innes on a trip there. For a few years his business thrived. On the morning of 27 March 2009, Rose-Innes was aboard one of the boats he chartered, the Mayas Dugong, preparing for another day on the water. Two hundred and fifty miles to the west, his second boat, the Indian Ocean Explorer, was wrapping up after hosting fishing groups on Cosmoledo. His radio crackled: 'Pirates have taken Indian Ocean Explorer.' The day before, Indian Ocean Explorer had left Cosmoledo and sailed to Assumption, a nearby island with a landing strip, where it had dropped Rose-Innes's business partner and the last clients of the season for their return home. Left on board was Captain Francis Rouco and his Seychellois crew. A little before midnight the boat was stormed by 11 pirates carrying AK-47s, and ordered to set sail for Somalia – an open ocean crossing of some 800 miles. When they anchored in Somalia, the haul was considered disappointing. These pirates had, months earlier, hijacked the Sirius Star, carrying two million barrels of crude oil. Before that they'd bagged Faina, a freighter carrying 33 Russian tanks. Had they been 24 hours earlier with the Indian Ocean Explorer they would have had a group of wealthy Western tourists, and with them a healthy ransom price. After eight weeks, the Seychelles government paid a ransom of $450,000 and the crew returned home. The pirates burned and sank the Indian Ocean Explorer. By the spring of 2009 the West was losing patience with the scourge of piracy around the Gulf of Aden. Just 12 days after the hijacking of the Indian Ocean Explorer, four Somali pirates, aged between 15 and 18, took control of the Maersk Alabama, a cargo ship carrying 401 containers of USAID food destined for refugee centres across East Africa. It was the first time a ship under the US flag had fallen to pirates since 1815. After a standoff, snipers from US Navy Seal Team Six shot three of the pirates and captured the fourth. Subsequently, dozens of US warships, manned by NATO forces, patrolled the area and dismantled pirate settlements. There were 237 attempted hijackings in the region in 2011 and just two (failed) attempts in 2014. Now, for more than a decade, there hasn't been a flicker of piracy around the Seychelles' seas. But for Rose-Innes and his team, 2009 was a sobering time. In many cases guests had paid large deposits for their trips on Indian Ocean Explorer, and they expected to be refunded. Much of the money had already been spent because operating at such extreme remoteness requires both resources and planning. They looked into options to relocate their business, but pristine atolls like Cosmoledo are rare. During this enforced absence from the Outer Islands, Rose-Innes realised he wanted to do more than just guide fly-fishing trips. He struck a partnership with a fellow South African, businessman Murray Collins, who shared Rose-Innes's passion for conservation. Together they launched an eco-tourism company called Blue Safari Seychelles. As piracy became a distant memory, the Seychelles government started reopening the outer atolls. In March 2014 Rose-Innes returned to Cosmoledo. 'What I found wasn't the Eden I left behind. It was a butcher shop. Commercial fishermen from the Comoros and Madagascar had set up a temporary camp on one of the islands. It was now an abandoned settlement: fish carcasses and turtle shells, drying racks, buckets for salting sea cucumbers, piles of burned garbage. It was clear they'd put a hell of a lot of pressure on the place. This was a defining moment. 'I realised that if we're going to protect these atolls, we need to have a permanent presence. We can't just show up for a fishing season and then bugger off back to South Africa.' Although the Cosmoledo that Rose-Innes found when he first visited back in 2005 was uninhabited, it was far from untouched. The encampments he saw when he returned after the atoll's closure were just the latest in a long list of exploitative industries. Although Cosmoledo was reputedly visited by the Portuguese navigator João da Nova in the 15th century, the first recorded exploration of the atoll was in 1822 by the Royal Navy. Humans started to settle on the various islands around 1880. For the next century it was used as a whaling station, guano was mined and mangrove bark was stripped. It was also a prolific turtle fishery. Up to 7,000 green turtles per year were harvested on behalf of Campbell's Soup Company. The hawksbill turtles were killed for tortoiseshell ornaments and green snails were taken to make mother-of-pearl trinkets. Land was even cleared in an attempt to cultivate sea island cotton. All of these industries failed, and the place was abandoned in 1992. By the time Rose-Innes returned, Cosmoledo's eco-system was hanging by a thread. He knew they needed to act fast in order to protect the atoll. Rose-Innes and Murray approached the Seychelles government and submitted plans to build a permanent lodge. 'They were, rightly, nervous about having a human presence here. This is one of the last pristine they agreed we could put something up on a trial basis, as long as it was all removable. They were clear: this isn't the Maldives. They don't want anything built into the water, disrupting the coral. There can be no light pollution. It was very strict, and rightly so.' With a lease in place and permission granted, the lodge was built in 2018. 'Lodge' is a euphemism: the rooms are converted shipping containers with outdoor showers, and the main eating areas are large safari-style tents. The only building with any sense of permanence is the small cyclone shelter. However, the containers are converted luxuriously, aiming to please a clientele with deep enough pockets to make the journey – but the ecological imperative being that the whole camp could be lifted without leaving a trace if necessary. The project began as an elite fly-fishing destination. Rose-Innes's customers ranged from angling addicts, who saved for years to get their hit of wilderness adventure, to time-poor captains of industry in pursuit of the finest fishing on the planet. Soon his horizons broadened beyond selling fishing trips. More comfortable accommodations opened the door to wildlife tourism; ocean-going safaris where guests observe the atoll's web of life. His permanent presence also meant constant surveillance – both to deter illegal fishing vessels and facilitate research. The Blue Safari team amounts to 20 people during the season, but there are always at least four on the atoll all year round, maintaining the camp and keeping watch. Not everyone on the atoll is an employee of Rose-Innes however. 'Running a place like Cosmoledo, it's critical to work closely with the goverment. We take a collaborative approach.' Each year Rose-Innes and his team participate in the monitoring of turtle populations, take a census of the sooty terns, count myriad other seabird colonies, and undertake significant beach clean-up operations. Cosmoledo isn't immune to the plague of plastic that taints our oceans, whether it's a washed-up flip-flop or a 300ft fishing net. New projects are starting all the time. Research is currently ongoing into coral health, as well as the impacts of eradicating rats from the atoll in 2007. The most significant development is the inclusion of Cosmoledo in the Seychelles Marine Spatial Plan, in which 30 per cent of Seychelles territory is designated as a Marine Protected Area. Rose-Innes is tentative: 'This is a big step forward, and we've been involved with the government on this since the beginning. But we're still awaiting the exact frameworks, and we need to ensure that they really do adequately protect these places.' The sun bounces off the water on to my face as I gaze up at a troop of red-tailed tropic birds overhead. I hop aboard a skiff with an outboard motor, fly rod in hand. The shallow draft allows us to drift silently over the sand flats, while the guide directs us with a push pole. Wild fish in only a few feet of water require a stealthy approach. My guide today is Brandon Poole, who's been here since the beginning. A cigarette hangs from his lips as he scans the water. 'How is it different to the old days, when you first started here?' I ask. 'Well, if Keith hadn't put the lodge here, then this atoll would be in a terrible state. Every year when we'd come back from being away for six months, we wouldn't find fishing boats, but there would be signs of poaching. Now, we see the odd boat, maybe once or twice a season. We call the coastguard, and they come and arrest them and sink the boats.' He pauses. 'Keith loves this place. He'll do anything he can to protect it.' 'Do you see that sting ray?' he suddenly exclaims. 'There's a couple of giant trevally feeding around it. It's coming at 11 o'clock, 30 yards. This is your shot. Lead it. Good. Now, strip, strip. Set!' With a shocking speed the trevally sees my fly and sprints toward it, mouth agape, crushing the six-inch-long imitation of a bait fish. It is the definition of frenzied gluttony. The line peels from my reel as the fish charges towards the edge of the reef, where it will find pillars of sharp coral and sever our connection. 'Hold it. Tighten the drag.' Poole bends down to start the motor of the skiff and give chase. It is a tense few minutes. My arms start to ache. The fish is now close, and I am thankful when Poole reaches into the water and grabs it by the tail. He slides the hook from its mouth. He hands me the fish and I hold it upright for a few moments, studying the large eyes that can spot prey through the turbulent ocean, and marvel at the strength of its tail that can generate such speed. 'I came for the fly fishing, but I now stay for the whole ecosystem,' says Rose-Innes. 'I'm just as happy walking the surf line looking at the wildlife as I am with a fly rod in my hand.' Rose-Innes's wife and children live mostly in South Africa, which has a more family-friendly infrastructure than the middle of the Indian Ocean, while he has spent 'the last 25 years travelling constantly back and forth to the Seychelles'. The week after my trip, his 13-year-old son, Pano, is due to visit, his first trip to Cosmoledo. I wonder if he will experience it in the same way that Rose-Innes has. Rose-Innes pauses. 'I'm worried,' he admits. 'We're at a pivotal moment. I'm always talking to the government here, and I'm hopeful about new conservation initiatives. But it will only take a line of cruise ships showing up with 100 people on board to ruin these islands. And we already see climate impacts. The outer islands used to avoid coral bleaching, but last year, it was bad.' There is a sense of optimism here however. Cosmoledo is more than just a paradise: it's an argument, a model of what conservation can look like when the balance is right. Across the Indian Ocean, once-pristine atolls have buckled under unchecked tourism and short-term gain. In the Maldives, coral reefs have been dredged to build airport runways and artificial islands. In Mauritius, oil spills and overdevelopment have scarred fragile environments. The contrast with Cosmoledo is stark: here, limited access, light-touch infrastructure, and a clear conservation mandate have created one of the healthiest marine ecosystems on Earth. This week, the world's leaders will assemble for the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France. From air-conditioned and marble-floored halls, they'll make pledges, pose for photos, and talk about 'accelerating action'. Meanwhile, on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere, Keith Rose-Innes and his dedicated team are doing it. An atoll that was once defined by exploitation is now overflowing with marine life. It may be too late for the mega-resorts and Instagram wedding venues that have already been built, but not far from here lies the British Indian Ocean Territory – the Chagos Archipelago – perhaps the most pristine set of atolls left on Earth. It's currently a military base and a geopolitical football, but with sovereignty likely returning to Mauritius, the question isn't just who owns it, but who protects it? Mauritius could choose to go the way of its mainland. Or it could follow the vision of Rose-Innes and the beacon of Cosmoledo – where guest numbers are limited, structures leave no scars, and the only pirates left are the soaring, angular frigatebirds.
Times
2 days ago
- Times
Rolls-Royce has wowed the City — can it charm airlines too?
With the temperature gauge nearing 40C, it was a typically stifling June day in downtown Delhi last Sunday. The temperature inside the air-conditioned Taj Mahal hotel was more amenable, but Sir Tim Clark was still getting hot under the collar. The British executive, who co-founded Emirates in 1985 and has led the airline since 2003, is known for lambasting aircraft engine manufacturers — and especially Rolls-Royce. Clark has refused to take delivery of multibillion-dollar order of Airbus aircraft until a fix can be found for what he has described as the 'defective' Rolls-Royce engines that power the specific type of planes. Is it frustrating, then, that Rolls's share price is at record highs? 'Just a bit,' he responded sardonically. • Rolls-Royce reinstates dividend and announces £1bn buyback To rub salt into the wound, Rolls's chief executive, Tufan Erginbilgic, cancelled a lunch date with him at the biennial Paris Air Show next week, the 75-year-old claimed during a fringe event as Delhi hosted the annual conference of airlines trade body IATA. This allegation was later hotly disputed by the Rolls camp. Clark is not alone among airline executives in directing his ire at the Derby-based engineering giant. Bosses at British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have been left fuming at chronic problems with Rolls engines that have grounded planes, leading to swathes of cancellations. The situation is worse still on the other side of the Atlantic. Issues with engines built by the Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney led to a violent sell-off in Wizz Air shares last week. Bosses at the London-listed budget carrier were forced to issue a profit warning and remove forecasts amid concerns about contaminants in the powdered metal used to make its turbofan engines. Sentiment in the Square Mile towards Rolls-Royce, meanwhile, could hardly be more different. The company's shares have risen more than 800 per cent since Erginbilgic, a former BP executive, took office in January 2023. Five-year profit targets have been hit early, and investors have been showered with dividends and share buybacks. Rolls now boasts a stock market value of almost £75 billion, putting it among the five biggest companies in the FTSE 100 last week. The company's success has been built on the back of building and maintaining aircraft engines. Civil aerospace generates 51 per cent of Rolls's revenue and nearly two-thirds of its profits. So having won back the City, can it do the same with the airlines that ultimately keep it aloft? Rolls produces four main engine types: the clunkily named Trent XWB-84 and XWB-97, as well as the Trent 1000 and 7000. 'Yes, everybody who has Trent 1000s has the right to be very cross,' said Nick Cunningham, an analyst at the equity research firm Agency Partners. 'But the whole aero-engine industry is struggling with the latest generation of engines because they collectively ran up against the laws of physics — where the attempt to optimise fuel consumption, emissions and reliability ended up with them pushing the envelope too far.' The Trent 1000 is facing durability issues. 'The blades end up looking like someone with very bad teeth,' said Cunningham. 'We have been taking decisive action and moving quickly to prioritise the resources needed to reduce the impact created by the current industry wide supply chain constraints, it's the highest priority for our civil aerospace division,' Rolls said. The problem with the newer XWB — the -97 version of the engine that, so far, Emirates won't accept — is its propensity to be compromised in hot, sandy conditions such as those in the Middle East. The turbine blades are designed with tiny air-cooling holes. Inspections have found that these have become clogged up with glass, contained in sand blown into the engine, which melts and restricts airflow. A spokesman for Rolls said that Emirates had accepted the XWB-84 version of the engine on its A350-900 jets. The -97 will power A350-1000 aircraft. The interim response has been for Rolls to increase the number of engine inspections and replace parts more frequently. The company is working on a longer-term fix and could make an announcement as early as this month on progress. The increased number of inspections is one reason why BA and Virgin's jets are grounded more often. This has been compounded, across the aero-engine industry, by supply chain problems and labour issues. The roots of this can be traced back to the pandemic, which has led to planes being stuck in maintenance shops for longer. As a result, 15 per cent of the global fleet of aircraft is grounded, compared with the long-term average of 12 per cent, according to IATA. 'The single biggest challenge remains supply chain performance,' said Rob Watson, president of civil aerospace at Rolls. 'Things have improved, but there are still challenges. So that Covid impact is still washing through.' During the pandemic, engine manufacturers' complex network of suppliers had to stop production and furlough staff. Some of the suppliers failed. More recently, geopolitical events have affected access to raw materials. For example, titanium, a crucial metal in the production of engines, was almost exclusively sourced from Russia. 'We still see some fragility in our supply chain,' said Watson. 'So we've invested a lot in our forecasting capability, and we've now got an even better view of our supply chain's ability to order and deliver parts. 'We're doing a lot of work with our quality teams, making sure we've got the right quality in the supply chain and, in some cases, placing employees in supply chain organisations.' Cunningham at Agency Partners pointed out that labour shortages in maintenance workshops have put further strain on the ecosystem. 'All those old guys in the workshop that you used to see — the ones who, in the case of the American workshops, look like members of ZZ Top, and their equivalents in Europe — either got fired during Covid, or decided that it wasn't worth working the last few years of their career after being furloughed,' he said. This has left large parts of the sector with less experienced staff who are not as productive as their older predecessors. For BA, maintenance work on the Trent 1000 engines for its Boeing 787 Dreamliners means that the UK flag carrier has three to four planes grounded at any one time. Sources familiar with the situation said this will continue for the rest of 2025 at least. Such groundings put further pressure on other aircraft in BA's fleet — principally its older-generation Boeing 777 aircraft, which in turn require additional maintenance to compensate for extra flying hours. Sean Doyle, chief executive of British Airways, is thought to be waiting on Rolls to come up with a plan for 2026. BA this weekend declined to comment. • Everyone bashes it but BA is surging ahead … what's its secret? Virgin Atlantic said that aircraft availability continues to be 'slightly impacted' by the continued supply chain shortages related to Trent 1000 engines. 'We work very closely with Rolls-Royce to mitigate impact, and the reliability of our schedule is delivering strong results for our customers,' a spokeswoman said. British Airways recently gave the strongest sign yet that its patience with Rolls has run out in relation to the Trent 1000, however. BA's parent company, IAG, announced in May that an order of 32 Dreamliners would be powered by engines made by GE, Rolls's rival. Watson, Rolls-Royce's civil aerospace chief, said: 'Of course we were disappointed that IAG opted for GE on the recent Dreamliner order. But it's always our customers' choice. 'Let's not forget that at the same time the Dreamliner order didn't go our way, IAG placed a significant order of Rolls-Royce-powered Airbus aircraft [for BA's sister airlines Aer Lingus, Iberia and Level], which I think demonstrates the strong relationship we've built with IAG.' As for the Trent XWB-97 on which Clark at Emirates claims he is waiting, Erginbilgic has set aside £1 billion to find a long-term fix to legacy issues with it and other engines. 'Since he [Erginbilgic] took over from Warren East [as chief executive], he really has transformed that business,' said Clark. 'Maybe he's a little bit more confident about his engineering capabilities. But I haven't seen any 'we will give you the engine' or 'we will guarantee the engine'.' Maybe Clark will find out over their lunch later this month at the Paris Air Show. Assuming their date is still going ahead.
