17/6/26
Over the past week or
so there has been a two seat Spitfire based at Ronaldsway, doing paid trips
around the island for those who can afford it, I've seen £5,000 per
trip quoted! Although I've seen it a few times it's always been too
distant for a photo, but on Monday afternoon Ronaldsway radar gave it an
orbit over Douglas to fit in with commercial traffic and I managed to just
grab a camera in time to fire off a couple of pictures!
Panasonic FZ82 15/6/26
 
Yesterday the island
was covered by low cloud and fog for most of the day, but I had a quick
trip over to Peel where it looked that the weather might be a bit better.
Although it was still overcast, the weather was indeed nicer and I had
a quick stroll around Fenella Beach and the harbour area before heading
back home.
Panasonic TZ95 &
Osmo 360 16/6/26
    
    
360 degree Panoramas
  
15/6/26
Yesterday I had some
documents to drop off at the Jurby Transport
Museum and as the winds had at last subsided I took the mini drone
along with me for some aerial pictures of the old airfield. Although
it's mainly used as a motor racing circuit, it's supposed to be kept in
a condition to allow it to also be used for aviation activities when required,
although it did look as if some damage had been caused to the runway 26
threshold. As there was a race meeting in progress whilst I was there
I kept well away from the actual circuit and at a high level. I also
took a few 360 panoramas inside the excellent museum before conducting
a second flight..
DJI Mini 4 Pro &
DJI Osmo 360 14/6/26
    
 
360 degree Interactive
Panoramas
 
Panoramas inside the
Transport Museum
  
After my visit to the
Transport Museum, I did another quick flight for some more aerial shots.
    
360 degree interactive
Panoramas
  
13/6/26
Yesterday afternoon
I had a fairly brief visit to the Injebreck area of the West Baldwin valley,
where I took these pictures. At one time, around the end of the 1800s
and start of the 1900s, Injebreck was a popular tourist destination on
the island. Injebreck House was converted into a hotel and extensive 'Pleasure
Grounds' created around it , with 'Rustic Walks' centred around the little
rivers and waterfalls, and a large pavilion with a dance floor and bar
area. I think it all closed down around the time the reservoir was
constructed and the pavilion was apparently moved to Douglas. Many
years ago I was lucky enough to have an escorted tour around by the then
house owner, lot of remains still to be seen including the foundations
of the pavilion, the ornate fountain that stood in front of it and a large
triskelion.
Panasonic TZ95
12/6/26
    
    
    
12/6/26
After my visit to Close
Sartfield on Wednesday afternoon I continued northwards past Jurby and
to The Lhen, specifically to visit the Cronk-y-Bing nature reserve to see
if any of the wild orchids there were in flower yet. The Lhen River flows
out to sea through the reserve after rising not far to the south in the
Curragh and flowing its sedate way through the Lhen Trench, a shallow glacial
valley. The orchids that grow here are Pyramidal orchids, a different
variety to those at Close Sartfield.
Panasonic TZ95 &
DJI Osmo 360 10/6/26
    
    
  
360 Degree Panoramas
   
   
11/6/26
Yesterday afternoon
I revisited the nature reserve of CLose Sartfield, specifically to try
and shoot some 360 degree panoramas in the reserve.
Whilst I was there I
took the opportunity to shoot some conventional shots as well.
Panasonic TZ95 &
DJI Osmo 360 10/6/26
    
    
The Panoramas
    
10/6/26
We've been waiting for
the chaos of the TT to subside to have a visit up to the nature reserve
at Close Sartfield to see how the wild orchids up there are doing. Yesterday
afternoon we made it although the weather wasn't that great with regular
heavy rain showers passing over the island. My orchid variety identification
isn't good I'm afraid!
Panasonic TZ95
9/6/26
    
    
    
    
    
7/6/26
After yet another wet
morning, the weather dried up around lunchtime and I decided to visit Molly
Quirk's Glen, which is fairly close to where I live. I shot a selection
of conventional pictures, plus some 360 degree panoramas and a short video,
to record the sound of the Groudle River and all of the birds in the trees.
Panasonic TZ95 &
DJI Osmo 360 6/6/26
    
  
A video walk in Molly
Quirk's Glen
From Molly Quirk's Glen
I walked up Bibaloe Glen to reach the ruined farm of Ballakilmartin.
There's a public footpath right through the middle of the buildings.
   
  
  
On the walk back to
the car through Bibaloe Glen I stopped for a couple more 360 panoramas.
 
6/6/26
The TT race fortnight
is coming to an end and unfortunately we've seen a lot of air ambulance
activity. In addition to the two helicopters devoted to the races,
there is an additional one chartered by the IOM government to support the
ambulance service and we've seen multiple trips by the Great North Air
Ambulance coming over from Cumbria, plus at least one visit from the UK
Search and Rescue helicopter from Caernarfon, for urgent patient transfers
from Noble's Hospital to specialist units in the UK.
I photographed two of
them flying over my house yesterday.
Panasonic FZ82 5/6/26
 
5/6/26
For most of yesterday
the weather over the island was poor, to say the least, with regular very
heavy rain showers and longer spells of rain. I did fancy a trip
out though and after consulting the excellent 'Windy.com' it looked like
the best weather might be had in the north of the island so I headed there.
As far as Ramsey the rain continued, but up towards the Point of Ayre it
dried out and there was even some sun! It didn't last for long though
before the next heavy rain shower approached, but it did give me some dramatic
photographs. On the way back home the rain was of tropical proportions,
even driving at 30 mph the wipers could hardly cope with the downpour.
Panasonic TZ95 4/6/26
    
    
Yesterday evening there
was a display by the RAF Red Arrows team at Douglas. Based on the
weather earlier in the day it seemed a bit unlikely, but most of the showers
had cleared away by the time of the display at 19:30 although there was
still quite a lot of cloud around including some cumulo-nimbus, which apparently
made it a bit bumpy at times for the pilots! Nevertheless, as always
they put on an excellent display, we viewed it from home so these pictures
were taken from around 2 miles away.
Nikon D7100 + Sigma
150- 500 mm zoom lens. 4/6/26
    
    
    
    
    
    
4/6/26
I finally completed
editing and publishing the Glen Helen video! Shot back on the 22nd
using the 360 degree camera it's a three stage process. Firstly the
360 video has to be edited into conventional format using the DJI Studio
program, taking each clip (there were a lot of them!) and choosing camera
angles and zoom levels. Don't get me wrong, it's great to be able
to do this at home on a computer, but it is rather time consuming. Then
the clips are compiled together and edited for length in a conventional
video editing program, I use VSDC Video Editor which gives me all of the
options that I want (and many more). Finally it's uploaded to YouTube,
which for various reasons took me three attempts. Anyway, it's there
now and if you wish you can view it by clicking the button below.
DJI Osmo 360 22/5/26
It's TT Race Week and
the lovely weather we had recently has broken and we're in an unsettled
periods with strong winds and heavy rain from time to time. I had
wondered about going down to the TT Grandstand for some pictures, but then
saw that the spectator area was closed due to flooding. The rain
seemed to have eased off so Plan B was to go to the Dhoon Glen for a walk
down to the waterfall, but on arrival the rain was back again so I continued
onwards to Ballafayle, hoping that there would be a bit of a gap in the
rain for some photos around the old burial grounds and little park up there.
The location is almost 500 ft above sea level, with the oldest burial ground
dating back to Neolithic times, with a later Quaker burial ground dating
from the 1600s when the Quaker religious group were persecuted on the island
by the established church.
The rain continues when
I arrived, but after about 20 minutes waiting in the car, there was short
break and I managed these panoramic pictures.
DJI Osmo 360 3/6/26
  
On the drive back to
the main road I passed this 'eco house' with its turf roof that normally
blends in with the surroundings and probably passes unnoticed by many people.
However, at the moment it is covered with flowers and looks amazing!
What a great view it must have, I hope the owners don't mind me sharing
this picture.
Driving home, the rain
showers were regular and heavy, but there was a brief pause as I was approaching
the Dhoon Glen, so I stopped for a couple of pictures of a TT institution,
the little roadside campsite of 'Gruseleck', which apparently started back
in 1981 when visitor from Germany decided that it would be a nice spot
to pitch his tent! With a couple of exceptions he has been back every
year since and now definitely has 'squatters rights' for two weeks each
year!
I would have quite liked
a chat but he wasn't at the site for the short time that I was there.
  
3/6/26
I love looking at clouds
and taking pictures of them! These three were taken on my phone from
home yesterday evening.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
2/6/26
 
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