Winter Visitors and Early Nest Building at Paxton Pits

Great to see winter visitors, Goosander and Golden Eye pairs, plus resident species Great Crested Grebe, Egyptian Goose, Kingfisher, Gadwell, Shoveller, Wigeon,Kestrel, Black-headed Gull, Grey Heron and Cormorant - the latter busy building the nests.

Greenwich and the Thames Path

On Sunday, we visited Greenwich and I retook the view that I had taken on my father's camera in 1953 and repeated in 2017. We then walked along the Thames path to the O2 Dome - so many new building have replaced the derelict factory sites though the Catholic church and Power Station still remain. 

Full panorama 2024

Same view in 1953 and 2017

River Thames Lights

 We walked the Thames path from the Arsenal to the Ferry a couple of evenings photographing the Ferry and the lights of Canary Wharf.

Woolwich in the Evening

Every Saturday, as a child I would walk with my mother to Woolwich to do our weekly shopping in the Market, which filled the whole of Beresford Square. It is now very restricted in area with much of the Square turned into public concrete area. The town has a great variety of shops, a lot of them with wonderful ethnic and fresh foods. However, we did wonder what people do in the evening now. There are still some pubs but the public swimming pool has gone (only an expensive gym and pool complex) and no cinemas and very few cafes or restaurants open at night. The former Granada Cinema, the Ebenezer Building  (1930s) is now the Cathedral of Christ Faith Tabernacle with a seating capacity of nearly 2500 and the Coronet Cinema is now the New Wine Church with a capacity of 3,000 members.

Tunnels and Staircases

We explored several tunnels and staircases during our walk from Woolwich to North Greenwich, many of them going under the Woolwich Road to what were the factories. The last image shows the only remains of that era, the tall chimney just about opposite where my great aunts lived (now a play area). The last staircase is the Premier Inn in Woolwich.