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.
Downstream of London, Kent's Hoo Peninsula awaits. Near the village of Cliffe there's a huge munition works, disused for over 100 years. Nearby, an expansive RSPB nature reserve is full of birdsong. As the tide falls, the creeks glow gold in the setting sun.
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.
That's the one! And thankfully the peninsula's wildlife hasn't been flattened by a huge amusement park - as was the plan.
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.
It was a joy to join you for this one, resulting in a beautiful sound capture in a special place, @rspbengland.bsky.social's Northward Hill. Even the distant cockerels are chilled out. An afternoon I won’t forget.
Likewise. The power station chimney is there in the distance of many of my shots, but I never focussed in until it was too late, during the demolition phase. I also recall the holes in the chain link fence - and the mess left by cable thieves who were sneaking in to nick copper.
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
A field of golden rapeseed with scattered green trees in the distance, below a dark sky.
A person in a green top and carrying several bags on their back walking an overgrown public footpath, with tall rapeseed pressing in on the left, and 2m high hemlock pushing in from the right.
A hedge of wildflowers with a field of yellow rapeseed beyond it. In the distance, the Thames is a silvery line below a moody sky.
A dead oak with twisted branches, with larger live oak behind it, rising from a field of bracken.
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.
A few more pics of the abandoned munition factory jetties on the Hoo Peninsula. Over a hundred years of tides and storms have left their huge, broken timbers scattered along the tidemark, but still the remnants stand.
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.
Sometimes I scroll past wonderful images without liking them, cos I suspect they’re too good to be true - AI creations, dishonestly presented as genuine. Thankfully - I know you worked hard on these pics, and this is a fab example 🙏
Well, the offer’s always there, if you fancy a lift! The ambience was slightly spoilt at times by a chill northerly wind wafting 80s classics and bingo from a noisy, inland event. Not, I suspect, worthy of a Radio Lento broadcast, but otherwise, mostly birdsong (& occasional, low-flying planes!)
On the way back I detoured out onto a patch of landfill, pocked with rabbit holes amid shattered lumps of reenforced concrete. At the end, the ghostship, a boat I’ve seen out here before, still clad in bleached white.
As I retraced my steps a rising tide reclaimed the saltmarsh.
The route eventually terminates at a tall, rusting gate that once led to an oil refinery and later Kingsnorth Power Station. A huddle of decrepit boats sit here, including the Brandram, a large wartime landing craft dating back to 1915. She now rests here, well out of the way, safe and remote.
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.
When I'm rich and famous I'll come join you 💙
A beautiful pic that has the look of Burgh Island, def worth a visit if the tides are right, with the ancient Pilchard Inn ready to welcome the curious. Looks like you found the perfect spot to while away the time and record the tidal vibes.
