No August blog this time due to some serious inactivity with the camera and only some drone images to take away from the month, so onwards to September with the virus still causing havoc across the world, it’s time for some photos to brighten the mood once again.

Starting things off strongly with said drone images taken in August at ‘the wave’. A man made surf centre on the outskirts of Bristol. I had heard about it in the news, and saw its interesting design which I hoped would look good from the air. It did not disappoint, with some very unique images captured while hovering above, undetected by those surfing below.

I followed these drone images up with some aerial views over Bristol while enjoying another hot August day. I was particularly taken by the city planning over an area called knowle, which has some fantastic symmetry that can only be fully appreciated from the air.

Moving out of Bristol, I took a trip to spend some time down in cornwall for a little bit of dog walking and beach visiting.

While watching the birds (and slugs) climbing up the walls from the safety of the house, I noticed a strange looking bird skulking in the shadows in and around the bird table. It was hanging out with the other sparrows but something was up with how it looked. I trained the 400mm F/5.6 on it and discovered it had avian flu with what look like tumors growing on its head and around its eyes. The poor thing could hardly see, but it was still able to go about its business. Over the next few days I noticed it frequently feeding at the bird table, so I hope it can survive even if it does look a little different to all the others.

On a very grey, misty day along one of the estuaries found across Cornwall, I took my trusty 400mm F/5.6 to see if I could get any joy from its muddy banks. With the tide out, and the haunting call of a Curlew echoing out around the valley. As I got to the harbour that looked out into the estuary, I was surrounded by wildlife taking full advantage of the tide. From Herons and Egrets in the shallows to Greenshanks and the Curlews on the mudflats. As I surveyed what was around me I suddenly spotted something off in the distance. Before I knew it I was watching an Osprey diving for fish. This was something I had been wanting to see/photograph since I was a kid so I pointed my lens and tracked it for as long as I could.

I was also finally able to travel down to st Michaels Mount on the south coast of cornwall to drone over and around the mount from the shoreline. It was a place I had been wanting to drone since I first had the idea of getting one for aerial photography and it of course did not let me down. I tried to get as many angles as I could in the short space of time I had with varying degrees of success.

I brought the drone in and took a couple of more ‘traditional’ images of St Michaels mount with the 35mm F/1.4 at F/22 with the 10 stop filter to smooth out the water.

Finally I was back to Praa sands for some more drone shots of a beach I have photographed many times but not from this angle. It was also great to see my tree is still there over 3 years later too in all its glory..

FIN