UK 2021 "National Parks"

Issue Date	14.01.2021
ID	Michel: Scott: UPU: Category: Ot
Design	Studio Mean
Stamps in set	10
Value	1^st class stamps: Dartmoor National Park New Forest National Park Lake District National Park Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Snowdonia National Park Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri North York Moors National Park South Downs National Park Peak District National Park Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Parc Cenedlaethol Arfordir Penfro Broads National Park
Size (width x height)	36.5mm x 34.7mm
Layout	Two Mini-Sheets of 25 and two Mini-sheets of 50 stamps
Products	FDCx1, MSx4, PPx1, PCx10
Paper
Perforation
Print Technique	Lithography
Printed by	International Security Printers
Quantity
Issuing Authority	Royal Mail

The set of 10 stamps, printed in two horizontal se-tenant strips, with images selected in collaboration with the National Parks, commemorates the 70^th anniversary of the opening of the first of the UK’s 15 National Parks.

National Parks make up 10 percent of England, Scotland and Wales and were created to open up the countryside to ‘ordinary people’.
The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act was passed in 1949.
The Lake District, Peak District, Dartmoor and Snowdonia national parks were created two years later.

These 1^st class stamps shows landscapes of the following National Parks: the Peak District, Snowdonia, Dartmoor, North York Moors, The Broads, New Forest, The Lake District, South Downs, Pembrokeshire Coast and Loch Lomond and The Trossachs.
Some of this parks are also great places for fossil hunters.

South Downs
The South Downs National Park forms a large area that includes the chalk range of the South Downs and large parts of the Weald.
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about 670 km2 across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the east.
The South Downs are characterised by rolling chalk downland with close-cropped turf and dry valleys, and are recognised as one of the most important chalk landscapes in England. The range is one of the four main areas of chalk downland in southern England.

Some fossils from The Fossils of the South Downs book of Gideon Mantel

Illustration of Ammonites and other marine fossils made by Mary Ann Mantell in a book by her husband Gideon Mantel "The fossils of the South Downs: or, Illustrations of the geology of Sussex", published in London in 1822.

The South Downs are formed from a thick band of chalk which was deposited during the Cretaceous Period between 75 and 90 million years ago this part of the country was under a shallow tropical sea. Chalk muds were laid down at the bottom of this sea and were very thick and widespread.

The rock is composed of the microscopic skeletons of plankton which lived in the sea, hence its colour. The chalk has many fossils, and bands of flint occur throughout the formation. The Chalk is divided into the Lower, Middle and Upper Chalk, a thin band of cream-coloured nodular chalk known as the Melbourn Rock marking the boundary between the Lower and Middle units.

Fossils of marine prehistoric animals such as ammonites, echinoids and molluscs can be found at coastline at the foot of the South Downs National Park.
One of the most famous English paleontologists of the XIX century, Gideon Mantell (1790-1852) made some research at the region, then published his results in a book "The fossils of the South Downs : or, Illustrations of the geology of Sussex", printed in London in 1822 and contains several nice illustration of the marine fossils, made by Mary Ann Mantell.

Mary Ann Mantell (1795–1869) was a wife of Gideon Mantel.
She is credited with the discovery of the first fossils of the dinosaur Iguanodon. Mary Ann Mantell drew up 364 fine lithographs of the fossils, that were then used in her husband's scientific publication "The Fossils of the South Downs" and in "Illustrations of the Geology of Sussex" published in 1827, in which Gideon Mantell describes the Iguanodon.

Products

FDC	Mini Sheets

Book	Presentation Pack	Post Cards

	The accompanying information sheet is written by Carey Davies, Editor of The Great Outdoors Magazine, and describes what you might see and experience as you visit each one.

References:

[R1] Stamps release: Royal Mail, BBC, The SUN
[R2] South Downs: Wikipedia, southdowns.gov.uk,
[R3] Gideon Mantell: Wikipedia,
The book "The fossils of the South Downs : or, Illustrations of the geology of Sussex": biodiversitylibrary.org,
[R4] Mary Ann Mantell: Wikipedia,
[R5] the Peak District National Park: peakdistrictinformation.com, thepeakdistrict.info,

Acknowledgements:
Many thanks to

Dr. Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, for reviewing the draft page and his very valuable comments.

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