I took these aerial
panoramas on a trip to Worcestershire in July 2026. The first few
were in Wales, when we stopped for lunch at Llangollen on the drive from
the ferry at Liverpool down to Worcester. Then a few in that area
followed by the last one that actually shows both Wales and England, taken
on the trip back up to Liverpool.
DJI Mini 4 Pro
16/7/26
Trevor and Llangollen,
Wales.
   
18/7/26
I went on a trip to
the Clee Hills in Shropshire with my brother David, driving most of the
way up Titterstone Clee Hill (1749 ft above sea level) before walking the
last bit and around the summit area. It is home to a Radar and Radio station
operated by the UK's National Air Traffic Services and also hosts on of
the Met Office's weather Radars.
19/7/26
We went for a family
Sunday Lunch at the Bowling Green Inn at Hadley, just west of Droitwich.
I used the drone to take some low level family shots but then flew up higher
to take this panorama of the pub and surrounding area. The fields
are incredibly brown after hot weather and no rain for many weeks.
22/7/26
After a couple of days
without any flying, we had a day in and around Droitwich, and I flew from
two locations. The first was the churchyard of St Augustine's Church, on
the little hill just to the north of Droitwich town centre. After
that we headed just out of town to where the Droitwich Canal branches off
the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Hanbury Top. My brother was
a volunteer on the former and was interested in me getting some aerial
shots of that area and the locks around Droitwich Spa Marina, quite a new
facility only opened in 2012. The first canal to Droitwich opened in 1771
to transport salt from the town to the River Severn navigation.
   
23/7/26
I had hoped to get some
closer shots of the BBC Long Wave radio masts whilst we were out and about
in Droitwich, but plans changed so I decided to try on the following day
when we were heading away to catch the boat back to the Island from Liverpool.
I had some difficulty finding a good flying location but managed these
panoramas. The radio transmitting station was established here in
1934 and was in service on 200 KHz (1,500 metres wavelength) until moving
to 198 KHz in 1988. During WW2 the transmitter was used to send coded messages
to secret agents in France. In 2011 the BBC decided that it would
discontinue Long Wave transmissions and the station closed down in June
2026. There is a proposal to save the masts as an iconic landmark,
but at the moment their future isn't looking good.
 
We made a final stop
on the way up to Liverpool for the boat, at the pretty Welsh village of
Chirk. Here the Llangollen Canal crosses the River Ceiriog on a high
aqueduct finished in 1801 and later paralleled by a taller one carrying
the railway. After the aqueduct the canal enters a tunnel whilst
the railway continues overhead in a cutting.
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