3/3/23
Starting off the new
month with a few pictures I shot on a quick visit to Douglas on Wednesday
afternoon.
Panasonic TZ200 1/3/23
    
   
7/3/23
When I first moved to
the Isle of Man, in July 1990, I was staying for the first month in a Port
Erin Hotel, but using my time off work to explore the island. I think
that I drove up Sulby Glen one evening in the first few days and thought
'wow, this place is beautiful'. I've never lost my love of the area
and have spent a lot of time exploring in and above the glen, but one little
side valley has always (so far!) eluded me. It's not easily reachable
on foot, so for quite a while I've had the idea of flying a drone up there
for a closer look and yesterday afternoon tried it out. As seems
to happen to me quite a lot recently, the sun decided to hide behind clouds
as soon as I was ready to fly, which has unfortunately muted the colours
a little. Maybe I'll return in the summer!
DJI Air 2S 6/3/23
    
 
After taking the pictures
in Sulby Glen, I moved on to a second planned flying location in the north
of the island, but conditions weren't really suitable for that location
and I ended up doing a short flight close to the Point of Ayre, to try
and capture some impressive clouds and the mountains of Scotland and England
on the horizon. The wind was picking up though which curtailed the
flight to a very small area and short duration.
DJI Air 2S 6/3/23
 
8/3/23
Yesterday morning was
bright and clear with light winds and I decided to do some aerial photography
from a couple of locations adjacent to the Mountain Road.
DJI Air 2S 7/3/23
Windy Corner
    
  
Snaefell and the Bungalow
    
 
9/3/23
On Tuesday afternoon
we took a walk in the sunshine along the Marine Drive, starting from the
Douglas end by the ornamental archway. We didn't quite make it all
the way to Keristal before having to return, but I took a mixture of ground
level and aerial pictures.
Panasonic FZ82 &
DJI Mini 2 7/3/23
    
    
    
    
10/3/23
We had a lot of snow
yesterday evening and overnight, so after a bit of clearance from around
the house this morning, I walked up to the Centenary Park to capture some
scenes before it all disappears again!
DJI Air 2S 10/3/23
    
    
  
12/3/23
Snow doesn't often last
for long on the island, so I set off yesterday afternoon to capture a few
more pictures of it. Unfortunately my plan of driving up to the Glen
Rushen Mines came to nothing as the roads were closed due to snow!
So I diverted and headed towards Cringle Reservoir, most of the photos
were taken around that location, I tried to get up to Round Table but again
the roads were closed, quite frustrating as they looked perfectly driveable
and if they weren't I'm actually capable of deciding that and turning around
or reversing, but it seems we can't be trusted to make sensible decisions
ourselves these days.
Panasonic FZ82 11/3/23
    
    
15/3/23
Yesterday afternoon
I set off for one location, decided en-route that there wasn't going to
be enough time to get there as the Mountain Road was still closed due to
snow and ice, so diverted instead to Ballaglass Glen, where the rivers
were nice and full due to the melting snow on the hills above.
Panasonic FZ82 14/3/23
    
    
    
18/3/23
After what has seemed
like days on end of strong winds, low cloud and rain, yesterday was brighter
with even occasional sunny intervals and I set out in the afternoon for
a walk into the hills above Sulby Glen, walking to the Block Eary Reservoir
and back. The promise of brighter weather didn't really come to anything
and the clouds remained firmly covering the surrounding hills. The pipe
that appears in several of the pictures carries water down from Block Eary
Reservoir to the hydroelectric generating station. The orange/brown
colour on the hillsides is last year's bracken that dies away in winter.
DJI Air 2S 17/3/23
    
    
 
Onwards to the quarry!
   
    
   
From the quarry I walked
on to close by the reservoir before heading back towards Sulby Glen via
the tholtan of Slieamanagh, which is around 730 ft above sea level and
430 ft above the valley floor. I had hoped to fly the drone again
here, but it was starting to rain so I had to settle for a few ground level
shots.
Panasonic FZ82
  
19/3/23
Three pictures from
earlier in the month that I somehow forgot to add to the website!
They were all taken from home within a few minutes of each other.
I had gone out onto the balcony to try for a picture of the easyJet Airbus
inbound to Ronaldsway from Belfast, noticed that the snow covered Welsh
mountains had some great illumination from the late afternoon sun and that
the Ben-my-Chree was approaching Douglas from Heysham.
Nikon D7100 10/3/23
  
25/3/23
The weather this afternoon
in the Isle of Man was lovely! After gales, rain and fog, the wind
calmed down and the sun came out, so I set out in the afternoon to walk
along some tracks and paths that I hadn't ever been along before.
Not too far distance wise, starting of close to the Poortown Quarry entrance,
then walking up the hill behind the quarry to try and find the 'Giant's
Grave', a long burial cairn marked on the Outdoor Leisure Map. I
totally failed to find it, although I walked within yards of it.
Looking at the aerial pictures, digital maps and Google Earth afterwards,
I think I located it, a few stones in the corner of a field almost totally
overgrown by gorse. It's the remains of a Bronze Age burial chamber,
but I find it hard to believe that it's just being left to disappear under
the gorse. I took quite a few photos on the walk, both aerial and
ground level, but I find that I've run out of time for photo processing,
so just four 360 degree panoramas I'm afraid.
 
 
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