Photoshop Cat Theory Blown Out Of Water

Here's the latest piccie of our new Euroferries Ramsgate - Boulogne supercat, 'Bonanza Express', still laid up in Tenerife. This shot was taken on Tuesday, two days ago.

The mystery of why the Euroferries logo has been painted out deepens. One theory was that in previous shots the logo had been daubed on digitally, using some kind of Photoshop thingo, so it was never physically 'there' in the first place. However, you can just about see the faint outline of 'Euroferries' on the side in this photo, so it clearly was 'there' and has been painted out in the not too distant past. Click on the picture for a closer view. I've enhanced it slightly for the blog, but there's a link below if you want to see the original.

The clincher is that this shot comes from the Spanish website fotosdebarcos.com (or boat spotters to you and me) and the snapper has made a point of saying that it's still possible to see the Euroferries logo through the, er, whitewash.

Click here for 'Bonanza Express' on fotosdebarcos.com
Click here to see boats currently moored in Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Update: It's not unknown for Photoshoppers to do some convincing nautical dib-dabbing. This unfortunately named vessel, for example, started life as the perfectly respectable 'Titan Taurus' before the internet hoaxers got hold of it!

Swarm Weather

Regular contributor Walter has sent me this splendid snap, adding that he had 50-80 of these Painted Ladies in his Ramsgate garden yesterday.

According to that font of all lepidopteral knowledge, The Sun, millions of these huge African butterflies are invading Britain because they love our weather. Hmm. Haven't seen that on the BNP's election leaflets. The paper adds:

More and more Painted Ladies are expected to make the 1,000-mile flight from their native North Africa if climate change continues to bring milder winters and warmer summers. Richard Fox, of the Butterfly Conservation charity, said: 'If we have a good year there will be one in every garden in Britain.'

Did you know? The term 'painted lady' can also refer to gaily decorated Victorian and Edwardian houses, and to the majority of builders' wives in Broadstairs.

Butterflies in The Sun