1/8/26
This is a slight modification
to the original August section, as in fact I didn't end up posting this
picture of the almost full moon until the 9th. But having finished
the months pictures with another full moon it seemed appropriate to add
it to the start when I re-ordered the pictures.
Panasonic FZ82
1/8/26
3/8/26
Some pictures from day
five of the Heritage Transport Festival. There were so many special
events scheduled over the six days of the festival, the organisers and
staff, both paid and volunteers, must have worked so hard to bring it off
so well done folks! This day I decided to get some pictures of the
sole serviceable 'Ratchet Car', No 14, which was running a shuttle between
Laxey and Groudle. The name comes from the lack of air brakes, so the driver
has to slow it with the 'ratchet' handbrake.
Panasonic TZ95
1/8/26
    
    
    
    
   
4/8/26
Sunday was the sixth
and last day of the Heritage Transport Festival and looking at the schedule,
three events grabbed my interest for the morning. There was to be
an intensive tram service on the Manx Electric Railway, a display outside
the Horse Tramway Depot with all of the trams displayed outside and up
on the Groudle Glen Railway, an intensive service with two trains and four
steam locomotives in service. I decided to try something different
and use aerial photos with a drone.
DJI Mini 4 Pro
2/8/26
     
Heading onwards to Groudle,
where the volunteer run Groudle Glen Railway was hoping to run a two train
service using all four of their steam locomotives.
    
    
    
   
5/8/26
A final set of pictures
from the 2026 Heritage Transport Festival. On Sunday afternoon we made
our way up to the excellent Jurby Transport
Museum where they were having a Vintage Transport Running Day, using
several old preserved buses plus some of the latest in service and a couple
of demonstrators visiting the island. Bus identification isn't my
strong point but I've tried to say what they are with the help of internet
searches!
Panasonic TZ95 &
DJI Osmo 360 2/8/26
    
    
 
6/8/26
When I was shooting
the aerial Railway pictures on Sunday morning, I also took the opportunity
to take some more general views, including the cruise ship 'Sprit of Adventure'
which was visiting the island and at anchor in Douglas Bay. I wasn't
actually expecting the Interactive panorama to work so I also shot two
linear ones!
DJI Mini 4 Pro
2/8/26
   
Groudle and the Glen.
To provide a logical sequence, the pictures aren't presented on the order
of taking.
    
    
7/8/26
The Northern Lighthouse
Board's tender 'Pharos' has been operating in Manx Waters over the past
few days, She's the tenth vessel of their to carry the name and was new
in 2006. I took these pictures of her in Douglas Bay on Wednesday afternoon
complete with her helicopter.
Panasonic TZ95
5/8/26
  
8/8/26
I'd taken the pictures
of the 'Pharos' on the way to Port Soderick for a little stroll around
the beach area there. Nowadays there's really nothing left there
apart from the 'Heroes on the Water' establishment using a renovated amusements
arcade. In its day however, it was a thriving mini resort with lots
of attractions, served by the IOM Railway, Douglas Southern Electric Tramway
and boats from Douglas. I've started with three old postcards from
the Stewart Christian Collection.
  
    
    
   
9/8/26
Phases of the Moon
I find the moon fascinating
on so many levels and like taking pictures of it. These three images
were taken over a span of just a week and show how quickly it changes.
They were all taken 'hand held' albeit with the camera braced against a
wall to steady it. Maximum zoom on the camera, equivalent to 1,320mm
on a 35mm camera.
Panasonic FZ82
1/8/26 - 8/8/26
 
10/8/26
Yesterday afternoon
I went down to Douglas for some shopping, but on the way home noticed that
three of the preserved double decker buses were lined up at Derby Castle.
I stopped for a quick photo and two other opportunities were there as well!
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
9/8/26
    
A couple of shots taken
in the early hour of this morning. I could normally give you an exact time
but I'd allowed the battery on the Ace Pro to run down, so the clock had
re-set to default. Anyway, it was the first glow of dawn at around 05:00
(at a guess) with a skinny crescent moon.
Insta360 Ace Pro 10/8/26
 
11/8/26
Yesterday the weather
was good for drone flying, so I went out to shoot some panoramic views
at two locations. The initial large pictures are just 'slices' from
the full 360 degree interactive panoramas, click on them to link to the
interactive versions.
DJI Air 2S 10/8/26
  
 
13/8/26
I don't normally shoot
'industrial' type aerial pictures, but as I was flying in the area anyway
I took these at the Middle Park Industrial Estate, just to the south of
Douglas, although outside the 'city limits' and actually in Braddan.
DJI Air 2S 10/8/26
    
14/8/26
A second set of conventional
pictures from the flights on Monday morning. This time from close
to Archallagan Plantation at Cornelly Mine.
DJI Air 2S 10/8/26
   
  
Some early morning sky
shots taken from home.
Samsung S24 Ultra &
DJI Osmo 360 11/8/26 & 12/8/26
 
15/8/26
After taking the aerial
shots a few days ago that seemed to show the Middle Park Industrial Estate
getting worryingly close to the Fairy Bridge, I decided to pay a visit
at ground level to see if there was any intrusion into what was always
a very peaceful and tranquil spot. The Fairy Bridge itself is a total
mystery as it leads nowhere, why build a substantial stone bridge without
a purpose? Even the 1870 OS map just shows 'Fairy Bridge' leading
into a small wooded area. I should maybe point out, for those that
don't already know, that this is the 'real' Fairy Bridge, not the 'toursist'
one of the road from the airport!
Panasonic TZ95 &
DJI Osmo 360 13/8/26
    
    
360 degree panoramas.
Click the large images for the interactive versions.
   
16/8/26
There's been a recent
announcement that the government is going to go ahead with the scheme to
dump around 16,000 cubic metres of contaminated sediment from the rather
ill advised Peel Marina construction (washed down from the mines!) at the
old 'Snuff the Wind' mine site. The sediment used to flow naturally
out to sea via the River Neb, but the marina flapgate causes it to settle
in the inner harbour area which needs regularly dredged and having collected
it they are not allowed to then dump it at sea, so it's been temporarily
stored in lagoons at Peel. With the project due to commence imminently,
I though I would get some aerial pictures of the site as it is at present.
DJI Air 2S 14/8/26
    
    
   
 
17/8/26
After shooting the pictures
at Snuff the Wind, I decided to make my way down to the nearby Beckwith's
Mine for some more aerial pictures there. It was at that location that
I did a lot of my early drone flying back around the start of 2015 as it
was a nice open area and normally devoid of people. However, on Friday
I was a little surprised to find two cars already parked there, but met
the lovely Maureen and Susan, who were sitting in their chairs and enjoying
the view down into Glen Rushen with a cup of tea before starting a walk
down into the glen. We had a long chat and they were very interested
in what I was doing with the drone, so I included them in a picture!
In
1969 an industrial archaeological
survey was carried out here which recommended that the site would make
an excellent industrial open air museum. It would appear that the government
of the day didn't agree and for years people kept riding trail bikes over
it. It's now closed off but how much damage must have been caused?
DJI Air 2S 14/8/26
    
    
   
18/8/26
When I was at the Fairy
Bridge last Thursday morning, apart from the still conventional pictures
and 360 degree panoramas I also shot a few video clips. There was
no great plan behind them but I loved the tranquil atmosphere there with
the babbling stream and birds in the trees so I wanted to capture more
than just still images. I was also so pleased that the nearby industrial
site wasn't imposing either visually or aurally, at least whilst I was
there. I spent yesterday editing the video into what I hope is a
acceptable short film. It was shot in 360 degrees so has to be edited
twice, firstly choosing the camera angles from the 360 degree clips using
DJI Studio, then editing them together in VSDC Video Editor to produce
a coherent film. No commentary or added sound effects, the soundtrack is
exactly as it was when I was there.
Click the 'button' to
watch on YouTube, it's just under six minutes long.
DJI Osmo 360 13/8/26
19/8/26
The twin seat Spitfire
has been visiting Ronaldsway Airport again, but this time bringing a companion
in the form of a twin seat Mustang fighter, both offering trips around
the island. Yesterday afternoon we had planned a trip on the Steam
Railway to Port Erin, but on arriving at Douglas found that it was very
crowded so decided to drive down instead. On the way we had a quick
stop at the airport for some pictures of the fighters, parking close to
the Manx
Aviation & Military Museum.
Panasonic TZ95 18/8/26
   
  
20/8/26
Whilst we were in Port
Erin on Tuesday, I took the opportunity to visit the excellent Railway
Museum there and took these pictures with my phone camera. The phone
cam has the advantage of a wide angle lens available, very useful in the
confined spaces of the museum but does introduce a little distortion.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
18/8/26
    
    
    
21/8/26
On the drive back home
from Port Erin (the scenic way!) on Tuesday, we had a short stop at Niarbyl.
In the early days of 'Island Images', somebody emailed me to say 'please
stop posting pictures of Niarbyl'. It evidently didn't work as I
just checked in 'Find
a Picture' and I currently have 81 entries for Niarbyl!
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
18/8/26
    
Clouds!
I took the two sunset
pictures from home at 20:20 as the sun was about to dip behind Greeba Mountain.
The third was around 12 hours later at 08:24 and shows a Cumulous cloud
buildup over South Barrule. Phone pics.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
20/8/26 & 21/8/26
 
22/8/26
I shot this panorama
yesterday afternoon from the Ballaragh Road, looking across the Irish Sea
to the Cumbrian Coast. I was just en-route to visit a friend,
fellow photographer Peter Killey, but I hadn't bothered to bring a 'proper'
camera with me - rookie mistake!. When I was approaching Laxey I
saw that the visibility was amazing so detoured via Ballaragh to try for
some photos. All I had available were the cameras on my phone, so
I shot a series of eleven hand held shots on the 115mm equivalent zoom
lens, panning across the scene and hoping that I was keeping the horizon
reasonably level. Back at home later I stitched them together in
PtGui and amazingly they actually worked! I had to have several attempts
with sizing to get it work as a web page, and this was the largest that
I could manage. The original panorama is considerably bigger.
Scroll across the panorama to enjoy the scene.
We're looking at the
English coastline, around 35 miles away at it's nearest point, St Bees
Head. Right over on the left is the town of Whitehaven with St Bees Head
immediately to its right then down to Sellafield, with the high mountains
of the Lake District as a backdrop. The mountains then drop down towards
Barrow in Furness and then further to the right are the large windfarms
with a couple of the Morecambe Bay gas production platforms towards the
far right.
The first three pictures
are cropped single frame shots from the panorama to show more detail.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
22/8/26
  
A couple of Aviation
pictures taken over the last few days.
Panasonic FZ82
13/8/26 & 19/8/26
 
23/8/26
I was wanting to try
and get some aerial pictures of the heather in full bloom on the hillsides,
so decided to have a try yesterday afternoon. The only problem was
that it's currently the Manx Grand Prix and when the TT course is closed
for racing there is a large 'Restricted Area' around and inside the course
where all flying is prohibited without special permission. I decided to
try the area of Slieau Ruy, just to the north of Laxey, which is well clear
of the Restricted Airspace. When I arrived at my chosen location I was
a bit disappointed to find that I had left it a week or so too late and
that a lot of the purple heather flowers are going over and turning to
more of a brown colour!
DJI Air 2 S 22/8/26
   
  
  
24/8/26
Yesterday afternoon
we had a trip up to Ramsey, to visit the amazing job being done by volunteers
on restoring the Queen's Pier, after the government left it to deteriorate
for decades. The have now completed up to Bay 10, with the Pier Tramway
running from the entrance to there on Sundays. Work is in progress on bays
11 & 12. My initial plan was to take the mini drone along for
some aerial pictures, but then realised that with the MGP races in progress,
all of the restored section of the pier is within the Restricted Airspace.
Plan B was to take the ground level 360 degree camera! All of the
initial shots are 'slices' from full 360 degree panoramas. View the pictures
as they are or click on them for the full panorama.
For more information
on the pier and how you could help with the restoration, visit the Ramsey
Pier Website.
DJI Osmo 360 23/8/26
 
  
Three conventional pictures
of the pier tramway. The tramway is to Isle of Man 'Standard Gauge' of
3 ft and was originally used from the late 1800s as a hand pushed conveyance
for passengers luggage to and from the ships. In 1937 a motorized passenger
carrying tram was introduced and this is the one still in service today,
powered by a 'Planet' locomotive.
There was also a Wickham
railcar used from 1950 until 1975 when it was sold to the IOM Railway,
but unfortunately was scrapped in 1983.
  
25/8/26
After our stroll around
and train trip on Queen's Pier, we had a walk through the streets of Ramsey,
ending up at Gelatory for delicious gelato!
I took a few 360 degree
panoramas, they are presented initially as 'slices' of the full picture
which does introduce some distortions. Click the pics for the interactive
versions.
DJI Osmo 360 23/8/26
   
28/8/26
With potential heavy
rain forecast for the afternoon, I took advantage of brighter conditions
yesterday morning to take some aerial pictures of the tiny Marown Old Church,
on the hill above the village of Crosby. The church was originally built
in the 12th century, then had major alterations in the 1700s but in 1853
was displaced by the much more convenient 'new' church down in the valley.
It eventually fell into disrepair, but was restored by volunteers by 1959
and now holds occasional special services. The is no electricity
in the church.
DJI Air 2S 27/8/26
   
   
  
29/8/26
For the last few years
we've had a lot of cruise ships visiting. There are arguments on
both sides as to whether this is good or bad for for the island, but I'm
just going to show some pictures and keep my opinions to myself!
Some of the smaller ones can berth at the Victoria Pier, but the larger
ones have to anchor in the bay and transfer their guests to the harbour
using their tenders. Yesterday we were visited by the 'Carnival Legend',
a true giant at 295 metres in length, compared to the 'Manxman' at 133
metres.
Various cameras 28/8/26
   
   
A couple of pictures
taken yesterday evening, that will probably be the last ones for the August
gallery. Island Images will then be taking a break for a while, but
I hope to be back taking pictures here again in October.
30/8/26
A small update to the
Ronaldsway ATC 2014+ pages,
regarding the continued shortage of trained Air Traffic Controllers at
Ronaldsway and the problems with the radar system.
  
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