As you can see from todays earlier post I was down in Chorlton Ees this morning photographing the Herons.  I went back to photograph them again this afternoon and soon smelt the burning.  Unfortunately its a smell I have gotten used to over the years as an arsonist takes advantage of any dry weather and sets light to the Meadows.  I have no idea what sort of pleasure anyone takes from this – but its truly depressing.

I haven’t walked around this part of the Chorlton Ees for a couple of years now, so imagine my surprise when i see who has moved in.  Apparently around 14 pairs of Herons  have moved from around Chorlton Water Park to this area closer to the Mersey, perhaps a sign of how clean the Mersey is getting?  Whatever the reason, seeing the trees full of these huge nests and these beautiful birds is a very lovely addition to this part of the Ees

And i have been photographing, I must put the updates on here

So… i built that new Apple and i mentioned i intended doing more video… well…. i have been working on some video….

This is something new I am working on, combining audio with my pictures to try to bring something more to them – its something that over the past year I have seen done fantastically well over at duckrabbit and other sites and i have been keen to try out – its a little rough, not least because the audio was recorded ‘on hoof’ rather than in a quiet space and added afterward. It would also probably benefit from being edited down a little… but here we are!

The subject is not one i would have chosen for my first foray into this kind of thing but I have been very concerned of late of the moves to build on a part of the Mersey Valley that means a lot to me, I’m not so much against football pitches, but the land grab has to be stopped somewhere, first football pitches then what? Anyway, for this I have identified several stakeholders i want to talk to about this particular part of the valley and ask them what makes it so special – first up – local naturalist, Dave Bishop.

Interesting commission this week, to witness and photograph the final stages of construction of a wind turbine on the site of a chemical plant in South Wales…. yes, truly this is the real glamour photography, but it is quite interesting in a nerdy way and certainly very very impressive, check the slidesshow:

What I like about this picture is that in all the time i have been in Manchester and all the times i have climbed on Snowdonia I never knew that the range could be seen from Manchester… or in this case, East Manchester / Stockport.  The power plant is Fiddlers Ferry in Widnes, and to the left in the background you can see the mountains of Snowdonia

From a recent PR shoot for a local civil engineering firm….

There is a great advantage to lugging round a fast sports camera like a D2x to family events…..

yes, this post is really an excuse to play around with yet another gallery ‘solution’ on this web site – i don’t think any two are the same – i kinda like that – it keeps you, the viewer on your toes…