Wandering the Wirral Part 1

I am not a great fan of re-visiting places. Even in a small island like ours, there are enough different places to keep us going without having to go back to the same place continually.

So, when deciding to go on holiday we generally look for somewhere we have not been to much. This year it was the turn of the Wirral.

If you don't know where the Wirral is, it is that bit between Liverpool and Wales that looks like England is giving a one fingered salute to Ireland.

Stuck, as it is, between Merseyside and Wales, it probably is overlooked as a destination. Also being bordered on two sides by the Mersey and Dee river estuaries, it does not have the beaches or infrastructure to attract the traditional holiday maker, nor the hills of Wales.

What it does have however is easy access to Liverpool, a lot of coast paths and abundant bird life attracted by the tidal marsh flats.

We decided to stay in Neston. A small town in the close to the Dee, trying hard to decide whether to retain its industrial mining roots or become a retirement/Liverpool commuter town. Not perhaps the most attractive town, but a good base to explore the rest of the area.

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This being a family holiday, my photographic ambitions were going to be curtailed, but I hoped to get out enough with my camera to make it interesting. 

The 1st question was where? The problem with any new location is that degree of uncertainty with adds to your inertia. If I had been on my own I would of probably scouted areas in the car before committing, but I did not have that luxury. Liverpool was an obvious target, being a city I have never really had much chance to photographically explore. Also the coast hopefully would have areas of interest, but apart from that it would be a case of exploration.

Thurstanton

We chatted to a few people on the way down, and one thing that came up was to go to the "secret" beach at Thurstanton. So once we had had settled in and had dinner we set of. The secret beach was not hard to find. What was hard to find was Thurstanton itself. A continual theme from the trip was the in ability of Google maps to navigate us around the area.

Still once located, it was a relatively easy walk to the beach, which turns out to be part of the Dee estuary. While we were there the tides we against us with High tide being early in the morning and midday and being an esturay, the water goes oout a long way. Still we caught a decent sunset, and on the right day it would be stunning.

What we missed however was Thor's stone, a giant block sandstone above the town. Again as well as Google maps, we found the area was a bit of a trip advisor black hole.

Ness Botanic Gardens

Mentioning trip advisor, Ness botanical gardens, (part of the University of Liverpool) is hardly mentioned, but is an on oasis of calm.

Arriving in late spring we were just in time to catch the last of the Rhododendron blooms.

Photographically speaking however botanical garden create issues. Let’s admit it, 200 pictures of flowers are pretty boring. The best you can do is try and combine it with architecture etc, but even then, you are struggling. Fortunately however I had brought my IR converted camera, and the sky for once was playing ball with a nice set of fluffy clouds

Also the cafe is definately worth a visit if you are looking for a great lunch sandwich

RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands Reserve

On holiday, I am always torn how many lenses to take. Generally, I take to many and/or the wrong sort. Just before leaving my house, I grabbed my 150-400mm and tele converter. Now it’s a great lens, but not something you want to carry all the time. 

However, being close to an estuary, means the area is great for birdlife, especially ducks and wader. The Burton Mere reserve provides a great opportunity for capturing birdlife. 

Saying that one problem is that it is very difficult to get anything extraordinary. Yes, the hides allow you to get images of birds, but unless you are very lucky, they will be a bit dull. 

Also, the light was not great. It was just too bright and harsh. What I needed was softer light due to cloud cover or late evening shadows.  The good light did mean I could have a lower ISO and faster shutter, but in a way it might have been better to left the camera and just enjoy the walk. 

Saying that we captured a few record shots...

A often heard, but rarely seen Chiff Chaff

Liverpool

The plan was to park in Birkenhead and take the Mersey ferry. Not only does that give you a great view of the dockside, but it saves the hassle of parking. Unfortunately, we arrived just after the commuter ferry service had finished and therefore had to take the far more expensive tour ferry. This would not have been a problem, but the weather had closed in, so instead of a great view of the skyline of Liverpool we just had grey mist for 30 minutes

 I had no alternative then to play. I recently bought a 4mm Laowa fisheye, for no other good reason than I always wanted one. I decided therefore to see what it could do on the boat and took a few images. One challenge I found was keeping my fingers kept getting in the way, because the field of view was almost 180 degrees. Also, the circular aspect is not to everyone’s liking. 

I also played around with multiple exposure. It is an area I would like to improve, and I like the way i could give the impression of Liverpool extending from the dockside.

Our first call was the Open eye photographic gallery. Hidden on the dockside, it is a nice little photographic gallery, The exhibition was about Eastern Europe, its people history and the how loss is captured by photographs. The way photographs record the lives of people is a theme I have always been interested in, so we had a good 20 minutes wander.

Fortunately, the weather started improving and after a visit to the Atlantic approach museum we headed 

to the Liverpool Anglican cathedral 

You cannot really miss either Cathedral, since they dominate the skyline. The Anglican one was only completed in the 80's after 70 years of construction and is the largest Gothic church in the UK.

Inside it is impressive, but stark since there is virtually no decoration, and unlike traditional churches no fixed seating. It is a bit of a strange building. Built in a style already out of date to a scale that nowadays seems excessive. However, it did make a good photographic subject since there were no restrictions and it was relatively quiet 

Finally it was time to head back. By this point the tour ferry had finished, so we had to take the commutter, but at least the weather had vastly improved for the trip back.

I still feel that I have not explored Liverpool enough and would like to spend an entire day exploring the city, but in the meantime a few more images...

Ay Up, Nottingham

 

Those who don't live in the East Midlands may not understand this, but the area is a bit artificial. Unlike other urban conurbations, there is no central town. The west Midlands coalesces around Birmingham, while we have Newcastle forming Tyneside and the towns of Lancashire orbiting Manchester.

The East Midlands does not really have a heart, instead it has triple centres in Derby, Leicester and Nottingham. In one way or another, I have had connections with all 3. My wife comes from Leicester and i worked there for 3 years. I live just outside Derby and worked there for 2 years. When we 1st moved from Manchester we rented a house in Nottingham for 6 months, and my wife still works there.

I therefore know them all pretty well. However, for some reason, while I enjoy Derby and Leicester, I have never felt comfortable in Nottingham, and generally avoid it. I am never really sure why, but I think unlike Derby and Leicester, Nottingham does not really have a city centre, just a spread of shops etc, smeared around the city. In Derby for example, everything you need to get to is pretty well within walking distance. With Nottingham you quickly find yourself in a maze of anonymous streets.

Also, when it comes to culture, Nottingham is severely lacking. Yes, it has some great theatres, but when it comes to art in comes a poor 3rd. For example, Derby has the Quad, and the Museum and art Gallery, with a great Joseph Wright collection and Leicester have the New Walk Museum. Finding similar collections in Nottingham is more difficult.

I was therefore surprised to hear that there was a small photographic exhibition in Nottingham in a museum I had not previously been aware off. The Bonington gallery is attached to Nottingham Trent University (or NTU) and it was showing a collection of photos taken by Baltimore-based photographer John Dean during his time as a visiting student to Nottingham Trent University in 1976. 

It probably is not appreciated enough how important NTU has been in the history and development of UK photography. For example, I heartily recommend Dialogue with Photography by Paul Hill and Thomas Cooper, both NTU lectures. They were also responsible for the creation of the Format exhibition, ironically in Derby, one of UK's premier photographic exhibitions. 

To be honest it 2026 has been a poor year for photographic exhibitions. I manged to screw up going to the Lee Miller exhibition at the Tate Modern, and have been desperately find an alternative, but there just does not seem to be much planned. Even the afore mentioned Format, was not running this year.

So, I decided to head into Nottingham. Finding the gallery was not a challenge, although it was hidden within the various buildings of the city centre campus. Getting in was the bigger challenge, in fact, it was closed. You see although I had checked the opening times, I had missed the fact that did not count on bank holidays.   

I was sort of stunned. A museum that basically closes during it most accessible period (Mu wife later explained that it is largely staffs with students). What was I to do now?  

There was only one thing to do...take photos...

Contemporay Views

First however I gave Nottingham another chance. I headed to Nottingham Contemporary gallery. One of the issues is that despite being Nottingham’s premier art venues the gallery building does not really stand out. I have walked past it numerous times, but never felt going in. It also has this weird system where, despite being free, you have to pre-register. 

Saying that the staff are incredibly nice. There were two exhibitions on, Lines That World a River by Shahana Rajani and Cemetery of Martyrs by Dala Nasser. The 1st was a based around videos taken around the Indus valley and the change in the environment caused by the damming of the rivers in Pakistan. The 2nd were Cyanotypes of graves in the Lebanon region. Both were interesting in their own way, and I always find I get something from any exhibition, saying that they did not keep me involved for very long, so I used the cafe for a quick coffee (After a brief conversation with the Barista on the benefits of the Fuji Camera system). Unfortunately, I was also tempted by an excellent book on spaceflight photographs, maybe driven by the Artemis II mission. 

Ay Up My Duck

So, onto the photography. Nottingham has a lot of lovely buildings, but they are often well hidden, or been interspersed my later modern dullness. You therefore have to work quite hard in Nottingham to find areas of interest. One thing Nottingham does have however is areas of Graffiti murals and I was determined to take images against those.

I started in the old market square. An area that is neither old, or a market. It used to have a great fountain which you could take images of City Hall against (It is no longer the City Hall), but this has been turned off for years, and now consists largely of pigeons. Still a great area for street photography.

Did someone say "Duck"?

I then headed towards the Broadmarsh...or where it used to be anyway. Nottingham used to have two shopping centres.  This distribution was always a bit weird, and the Broadmarsh was always the poorer cousin of the Victoria centre and a few years ago it was decided to demolish it. However, being Nottingham, they then struggled to work out what to do with the area. This was not helped by a major financial crisis that basically bankrupted the city. So a plan was hatched to make it into a green area, which is a great idea, bhut slow in execution. 

Under the tramway underpass however they have built a leisure area. As with all such areas, it has a sort of apocalypse vibe, and I certainly would not like to be there in the dark, but as it was, between the graffiti there were some lads playing basketball, so I got of a few shots.

I then headed to the castle. Nottingham makes a big thing of its connection with Robin Hood, but the castle lets the side down by being nothing like the movies. It is also a big tourist trap, and I did not linger

guide explaining why Nottingham castle looks nothing like the Hollywood movies

Finally I headed back to the tram stop to tray and take some images against the wall murals 

So after a day photographing Nottingham, do I know appreciate it more? Nottingham has always been a great place for Street Photography. Unlike many UK cities with identikit high streets, it boasts a variety of shops and places to eat. My younger daughter often goes there for nights out and for the young I understand the attraction. 

However that diversity also creates tension between the have and have nots, which again is a sign of Nottinghams relative decline. This means I an never really comfortable walking around, alone, with a camera.

I get the same vibe in London. That feeling of not being welcome and out of place. That tension however is what drives great photography. Nice places are photographically deserts. If you can put your paranoia in check and be brave such places offer great opportunities  

So,  I am glad I did it and it was great to have a day with no pressures just taking photos. 

Pity about the exhibition though...

Best thing about Nottingham, tram city makes getting out easy

Caught this guy, going through his moves...

The city hall looks impressive from the outside, but behind it is just a rather empty shopping arcade. A goof metaphor for modern Nottingham

City Hall from another angle

Nottingham has some great buildingd, but you have to search them out

These were filming a video

Another dead part of Nottingham

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