Formby Point

Josie and I had a drive out to the beach on Monday to this National Trust area, where we used to bring the children to feed the Red Squirrels. Their numbers declined very seriously to the point of extinction, but since the introduction of Black Squirrels, numbers are increasing again. They're still hard to photograph though!!

Canon 60D, 17-40mm, 70-200mm L lenses.

Black Squirrel

Pine Tree habitat

Red Squirrel

Winter Willow

Red Squirrel eating nuts

 It was too cold to stand waiting for the Squirrels to show themselves, so we went to the beach for some bracing sea air and to keep moving. We had left bright, clear skies in Wigan, but it was cloudy at the coast, which was great for photos, since the skies were much better for dramatic landscape shots!

HDR treatment to most of these to increase the contrast in the clouds!!

Formby South

Break In The Clouds

Formby North

Panorama Out To Sea

Tide Line South

Hand In Hand

Panorama North

Tide Line North

Rufford Branch, Leeds/Liverpool Canal

It was a cold, crisp morning so I took a trip to another branch of the Leeds/Liverpool Canl, which runs for 7 and 1/4 miles from Lathom, near Burscough to Tarleton, where the final lock (No.8) joins onto the River Douglas.
I only went as far as lock 4, and anyway, the last 2 miles has no footpath!!

Canon 60D with 17-24mm, 70-200mm L lenses.

Canal In Black And White

I went to one of my usual canal walks today, the start of the Leigh Branch of the Leeds/Liverpool at Poolstock.
For a change, I decided to shoot Black and White only, with a custom set-up on my Fuji X20.
I'm really pleased with the results, taking out the colour makes you concentrate on shape, form, highlights and shadows.

Last 2013 Walk

I took a final 2013 stroll up to John Alker's fields at Billinge on New Year's Eve to capture the last sunset of the year.
It was cold and clear, and for once I was in the right place at the right time!!

Canon 60D, L17-40mm lens.

Perfect Position!! Sunset behind Billinge Beacon.

4 months between these shots

New field border bridge

Woodland path in B/W

Woodland path

B/W sunset, high contrast treatment plus border

Field border lone bush in B/W