Conwy ~ North Wales

Conwy is a pretty little town in North Wales which sits comfortably in the shadow 

of its magnificent medieval castle

Pretty Little Town

Seagulls swoop and swirl

A perfect place for boats

Lobster Pots

Liverpool....

Visiting Liverpool on a sunny day without a camera was a big mistake

so my Samsung phone came in handy !

Rigging on the Dock

The Port of Liverpool Building

The Port of Liverpool Building (formerly Mersey Docks and Harbour Board Offices, more commonly known as the Dock Office), is a Grade II listed building.

It is sited at the Pier Head along with the neighbouring Liver Building and Cunard Building is one of Liverpool's "Three Graces", which line the city's waterfront.  

 The Liver Birds
on the Liver Building

The Liver Bird is the symbol for the city of Liverpool.

The use of a bird to represent the city dates to the medieval era, but the idea that the "liver bird" is a mythical creature specific to Liverpool evolved in the 20th century. The bird is normally represented in the form of a cormorant holding a frond in its mouth.


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Away with the fairies...

Fairy Glen in Appley Bridge, West Lancashire is designated as a Biological Heritage Site for its ancient woodland of oak, birch, ash and alder, the woodland floor may be covered with bluebells, wild garlic, marsh marigolds, ferns, and red campion.

Birch

Marsh Marigold

Ferns , Celandines and Bluebells

Sprodley Brook

The waters of Sprodley Brook have, over time, cut down through the underlying sandstone to create the steep Fairy Glen valley, which has spectacular waterfalls and cliff faces.

Sandstone Cliff

Spectacular waterfalls

A carpet of bluebells

Tree patterns in the Spring sunshine

The scent of bluebells and wild garlic conjure up an ancient place of magic and mystery.

And there is always the possibility of a fairy passing by....

"And as the seasons come and go, here's something you might like to know. There are fairies everywhere: under bushes, in the air, playing games just like you play, singing through their busy day. So listen, touch, and look around - in the air and on the ground. And if you watch all nature's things, you might just see a fairy's wing."

 ~Author Unknown ~

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Scarisbrick Marina, Lancashire....

This bustling community of riverboats and barges

 is nestled next to the Leeds - Liverpool canal at Scarisbrick, Lancashire.

Lazy B

Potty Harry

The Bees Knees

Peace and Quiet

The walk in my week....

This little area is alive with birds and in the summer this tree will form a green canopy over the stream

Today I saw Robins, Chaffinches, Pied Wagtails

And a cat stuck up a tree !

It will be interesting to see these fields in a few weeks and see what has started to grow !

This stone is all that remains of one of the old farm buildings

I wonder what stories it could tell. !

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The walk in my week....

This morning's blast of Autumn sunshine meant a lovely meandering walk alongside Scotman's Flash in Poolstock, Wigan. Since I didn't take my little Fujipix camera, these photos were all taken with my Samsung mobile phone!

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Wigan Flashes are a group of wetlands, which were formed originally as a result of mining subsidence.  Over time this area has evolved into landscape rich in flora and fauna and is a haven for birds. Its hard to imagine that just 100 years ago this area formed one of the major coal fields in the area. 

What a legacy those hard working miners left to the town.

Scotman's Flash alongside the Leeds-Liverpool Canal

Mum and her babies

From Ugly ducklings....

.....to a beautiful swan!

A View from the Bridge

My favourite stopping place gives a perfect view of the

Leeds-Liverpool canal towards Poolstock

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Media City ~ Salford Quays

I seem to have had a busy month on jaffareadstoo but have made some time to take a few pics

These photos were taken on a recent trip to Media City - home of the BBC and ITV at Salford Quays

View to Media City across the Manchester Ship Canal

The hustle and bustle of this television city in the heart of Salford

MediaCityUK is a 200-acre mixed-use property development site on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford and Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. 

It's now the home of :

BBC Breakfast

BBC North West Tonight

Match of the Day

Radio 5 live

Mastermind

Blue Peter

Dragons Den

CBBC

BBC Bitesize 

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ITV are relocating Coronation Street to new studios at Media City in 2013

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Sometimes if you're lucky you get to see a few famous faces 

A stroll along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal...

The Leeds-Liverpool is a canal in Northern England linking the cities of Leeds  and Liverpool over a distance of 127 miles (204 km), it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line.

A gentler mode of transport

Bridge 41

Appley Bridge to Parbold

Nice Reflection from the old tree

Away we go ....

I'm not an expert photographer but when I'm out and about I've started to take my camera just to capture those little snippets of time and place.

And in wondering what to do with the pictures ----Picksipics was born

All the pics are taken with a little Fujifilm camera

Finepix JX370

No fancy lenses, no fiddling with shutter speeds and macro lens, just a little point and shoot

which shows it's not the camera , it's the person taking the picture that matters.

So with no apologies for style, presentation or technical ability 

here are my picksipics

Lower Rivington Reservoir

Lancashire

The engineer for the Rivington reservoirs was Thomas Hawksley and construction took place between 1852 and 1857. The Lower Rivington reservoir has two dams, the 646 metre long, 12.2 metre high Millstone Embankment and Horwich Embankment which is 506 metres long and 18.6m high.

There were some kids about to have a sailing lesson. 

The water was calm

but the safety boat was out and about just in case there were

any kids overboard.