Out sound-hunting with the remarkable @radiolento.bsky.social crew, on the Isle of Grain. Always good.

Local river clean-up, the Ravensbourne. Lots of wildlife here, including kingfishers and Pichu, hiding out in the concrete canyons of Lewisham and Deptford. #BrookmillPark #HealthyRiversProject

The disused gantry bridge at Harwich Train Ferry Berth. Dating back to 1923* this once served train ferries to Zeebrugge in Belgium. The last service ran in 1987 and the structure is now Grade II Listed. * Originally constructed in Richborough, Kent in 1917 to support troops fighting in WW1.

The gnarled, sculptural remains of a riverside willow, upstream of Flatford Mill on the River Stour. Stripped back to its core, its bleached, twisted bones seem almost alien. It’s the sort of stump that looks as though it could move itself, when the mist is thick and no one is watching.

An overgrown corner of Battlesbridge Boatworks, on the River Crouch in Essex.

The end of the line at Brandy Hole, on the River Crouch. Here the seawall path was breached in 2002 to allow the sea in, rewilding precious saltmarsh. I love this part of the path, walking along the rough remnants of the seawall, with a high spring tide lapping close, and the chatter of birdsong.

The Hoo Peninsula, walking out from RSPB Cliffe Pools, late afternoon. Horses and cattle graze amid the abandoned buildings of Cliffe Explosives Works. Along the foreshore, several wooden piers still stand, their stout, dark timbers unused for more than a hundred years.

The remote, off-grid Broadness Harbour at the tip of the Swanscombe Peninsula in Kent. A high tide visit last weekend. Maybe a dozen moorings here, some active, some not. Across the Thames, chemical works and industry. Here, just the wind and the tide.

I was chuffed to join @radiolento.bsky.social for this one, exploring the acoustic delights of Kent's Hoo Peninsula. When you're recording sound, it slows the pace, and that's no bad thing - more time to enjoy the nature around us 🌿

Sadly deceased, a young great tit. It flew into the glass of my kitchen door this afternoon. Light but surprisingly firm and solid in the hand. I placed it on the garden compost, its siblings noisy in the cherry tree above.

The lost Littlebrook Power Station, now a huge Amazon warehouse. Shifting dynamics. It's a shame they couldn’t keep the chimney. It was an integral part of this Thames Estuary landscape. At 215m it was even taller than the Dartford Crossing, topping out at 137m. Pic by @quintinlake.bsky.social

Weekend walking with the @radiolento.bsky.social‬ team on the Hoo Peninsula in Kent. Fields of rapeseed & birdsong beside St Mary’s Marshes & then to Northward Hill to hear nightingale sing. An acoustic adventure involving some very underused & overgrown footpaths.

Kent’s Hoo Peninsula, on the Thames Estuary. My favourite escape from the city, at any time of year.

The Hoo Peninsula’s northern seawall & the three forgotten jetties which once served the munitions works on Cliffe Marshes. Still standing despite a century of erosion and storms. The inland works, scattered for safety & long abandoned, now provide shelter for sheep & the peninsula’s rich wildlife.

Bradwell substation, overgrown and disused. This once served the nearby Bradwell nuclear power station, now largely demolished and decommissioned. Only the reactor buildings remain, clad in pure white. Meanwhile, the less dangerous substation slowly succumbs to nature. April 2025.

Walking the Stoke Saltings, a landscape of Medway saltmarsh, sheltered in the protective belly of the Hoo Peninsula. The eastern horizon is dominated by the huge Liquefied Natural Gas holders on Grain, and the gantry cranes of London Thamesport container port.

The Watchtower. A long-disused bird hide with an expansive view of sun-blasted saltmarsh, a beach of broken shells, wide mudflats & the flicker of distant North Sea wind farms. Very close to the ancient & renowned Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall. This is Essex’s remote & beguiling Dengie Peninsula.

Cathedral-like vibes below the concrete wharf at Canvey Wick. Built in the early 1970s to support the development of a large oil refinery on Canvey Island, the project was abandoned after the 1975 global oil crisis. Canvey Wick is now a stunning, rewilded brownfield site, cared for by Buglife.

Light Vessel no.44, slowly succumbing to nature at Wat Tyler Country Park, Essex. Built in 1869, she served as a lightship on the North Sea's Newarp Banks, off Norfolk. Decommissioned in 1945, she lived on as a clubhouse for Erith & Pitsea yacht clubs before retiring to this remote, dead-end creek.

Kayaking Holehaven Creek and below the Fobbing Flood Barrier, east of Canvey Island. Reclaimed marshland reshaped by landfill and oil. Now great for wildlife. Pics from last weekend.

Wallasea Island. If you like your landscapes flat and your skies huge, this is the place to be. An RSPB nature reserve and a cracking spot for wildlife. Pics taken on Easter Monday.

Dilapidated boathouse at Lion Creek, next to the causeway to Wallasea Island, out on the eastern edges of Essex. Having walked the island with friends I stopped to grab a few atmospheric pics. In the silence, an unseen cuckoo was calling. The rain came in and the light faded. Love this place.

Evening walk, enjoying the local colour. Down to the river, then back past Mumford's Mill.

Elger Esser, French landscape photographer, is exhibiting at the Flowers Gallery, 21 Cork Street, London W1S 3LZ until Saturday 26 April. Looks very tasty. I'll be checking these out, although I suspect these framed works will be a little beyond my budget. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Thames estuary walk on Sunday, Slade Green to Belvedere, SE London. An industrial shoreline, half-derelict and half-alive, always interesting.

Gardens - just add water. Even in urban settings, ponds can add so much life to a garden or green space. I put a new wildlife pond in just a couple of months ago, and already life is thriving. And that makes me happy 🐸

Deptford Creek and the neighbouring Thames Tideway Tunnel works, now nearing completion.

Convoy’s Wharf, Deptford, Sunday morning. A heavy, muddy tide rapidly reclaiming the foreshore. Got my feet wet.

‘Into The Zone’ opens this Saturday at the Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend. I'll be sharing some of my pics alongside a group of artists with diverse, overlapping perspectives of the Thames Estuary. Show opens Sat 22 Feb 2025, from 2pm to 4.30pm. Continues until Sunday, 11 May 2025. Entry is free.

I’m excited to be sharing some my photographs at ‘Into The Zone’, a group exhibition of artists focussing on the Thames Estuary. Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend. Show opens on Sat 22 Feb 2025, from 2pm to 4.30pm, and continues until Sunday, 11 May 2025. Entry is free.

Deptford beach this morning. It will be six metres under now, transitioned into a murky, sunken landscape beneath the weight of a winter tide.

Porlock beach and saltmarsh, on the Somerset coast. The inland fields suffered catastrophic failure when the beach’s shingle ridge was breached by a storm in 1996. The trees died and the abandoned pasture was rapidly colonised by saltwort and salt-blite. It's wild, harsh and great for nature.

Free tours of London's renowned, historic Beckton Gasworks site on Tuesday pm, 4 March. There's not much infrastructure left, this is rewilded brownfield, lined up for riverside redevelopment. I've explored before & I'd go again if I was free #FullMetalJacket www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/beckton-ga...

Resharing cos I work with the #TowerBridge crew and wow, what a wonderful job opportunity!

Walking the estuary edge. Greenhithe to Northfleet, Kent. Rain and wind stripping the colour from the world.

A surprisingly ‘high’ low tide at Deptford beach, leaving little time to wander. It may not look like much, but there’s the sounds of the waves, the cry of a gull, a crunch under your feet, and space to escape the city.

I was pleased to join @radiolento.bsky.social for this one. We were strangers who’d met on a different, now decaying, social media platform. They didn’t have a car, but I did. We met up and drove to the edge of the world. A day I won’t forget. Listen in below ⬇️

Pyramids of marine gravel, dredged deep from the Thames Estuary and offloaded at an aggregates site by Cliffe Fort on the Hoo Peninsula. Sand is also offloaded here, so there's always a beach - admittedly a chilly beach last weekend.