Great Yarmouth Concrete

As usual, I was attracted but the various concrete structures during our recent trip to Gt Yarmouth. The  700ft Wellington Pier was originally built in 1835, the seventh pier to be built in Gt Britain. The council bought the pier in 1900 and the original wooden pier was reconstructed, and a pavilion built Over the year's successive owners were unable to halt the pier’s deterioration until it was eventually taken over by the present owners, Family Amusements Ltd. The pier was closed in 2004 for improvement and extensive restoration works. This included the removal of asbestos cladding and then the refurbishment of the steel and timber substructure and decking, with much of the structure now encased in concrete.

 

More Birds - Different County - RSPB Rye Meads

Another day and another reserve - this time Rye Meads in Hertfordshire. Not a lot about but here a photographic record of the species seen for the diary (missed a photo of a very cautious Fox that prowled around the Gadwall hide where there is a dead goose). Using my old Canon 1D mk IV and 400 f4 lens and surprised at the amount of noise even at ISO800. Have got used to the very clean images from the Fuji system!

Birds at Aqualate, Shropshire

We visited Aqualate Reserve near Telford on Friday and were rewarded with lots of birds  in the sunshine (Cormorant, Mute Swan, Blue Tit, Coal Tit and Reed Bunting shown, also Nuthatch, Great Tit, Wren, Long Tailed Tit, Robin, Great Crested Grebe). I only had a 50-140mm lens so some images are quite large crops.

 

Snowdrops Supreme at National Trust's Attingham Park

The snowdrops are at their best at Attingham Park. We walked round the estate looking at the deer and trees before arriving at the best of the snowdrops so the light was dropping quite fast giving a surreal feel to the carpets of white. I didn't get the close focus point right on some of the shots but have included them as I love the light through the petals and the patterns they make. The house itself looked great in the afternoon sunshine as did the Fallow Deer herd.

Shrewbury Prison. II the A and C Wings

A few images of the interior of the prison. The present building was designed by Thomas Telford and built in 1868. It was built for 171 persons, one per cell, but can hold 350 and had 450 at its most overcrowded. There are three floors in the main A wing accessed by iron staircases with steps deliberately uneven so prisoners could not run. There are a variety of colour schemes through the prison and some impressive iron gates. The C wing at the end had only a single row of cells, first for women but later held the Vulnerable Prisoners.

Shrewsbury Prison - I Monochrome Cells and Facilities.

We spent several hours in Shrewsbury prison today, photographing the cells and the various toilets and and showers. converted the images to a grimey monochrome which seemed to suit the subject.