Storm on Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight

Friday was very windy with gusts up to 50mph and near horizontal rain - not pleasant for being out but well worth time spent in a shelter on Freshwater Bay photographing the spray and waves. These were taken with shutterspeeds  from1/3200th to 1/8th second, all handheld, some with deliberate camera movement added. 

Brighstone Woods, Isle of Wight

 Brighstone is the Isle of White's largest wooded area and includes a large number of tree species including Beech and Sycamore. We found lots of fungi under the trees including the Red cracking Boletus, Puffballs, Olive shaggy Parasols - 2 stages, Blushers, Rooting Shanks and Burgundydrop Bonnet.

Dawn on Colwell Bay, Isle of Wight

Beautiful dawn on Friday morning with mist over the water and interesting sky reflected in the low tide sands.

Ventnor, Isle of Wight

Much of Ventnor was closed for the ‘winter’ when we visited on Wednesday though, fortunately,  we did find a very good cafe. The cascade gardens were one of the main features in Victorian times while the imposing Winter Garden Art Deco building was the highlight in the 1930’s, now sadly run down. The ivy growing over much of the building were full of ivy bees.

The Needles and Alum Bay IOW

As I last visited the IOW in 1950s and my strongest memories are of Alum Bay and filling glass tubes with sand, I thought I should make the pilgrimage back. The cliff falls over the years have covered most of the beach that I would have been exploring and access is now quite difficult from the steps down. The white sand is very striking - must check its origin when back with some proper WiFi.