Heathrow candid's ongoing project

A few shots taken in the Heathrow terminals with a compact camera, its an ongoing project with more images to follow

Shuttleworth race day 2017

Yet again the weather was against us with a reduced air show. The sky was very bland with little or no detail so most of my shots today were on the ground at take off or landing.

Shuttleworth Heritage Day 2017

A very cold and windy day in Old Warden so unfortunately it was a reduced air show with no Edwardian planes taking to the air. Heritage Day celebrates everything that is 'Shuttleworth', including aviation, agriculture, racing, the Swiss Garden, the life of The House and the Shuttleworth Collection. There was a flying display of the Collection’s vintage and rare aircraft and a vehicle parade. Visiting and resident exhibits celebrate 175 years since the founding of the Clayton & Shuttleworth company.

Shuttleworth Edwardian Pageant

Including The Red arrows and The Breitling wing walkers to name a few. This is a relatively small venue, where flying feels closer to the crowd than in some bigger airfields, even since the change in the regulations. The venue also has a mansion, Shuttleworth House, which is usually open to visitors for at least part of airshow days, park-like gardens (Swiss garden) and huge children's outdoor play area. Old Warden is home to the Shuttleworth Collection of planes from both world wars and earlier, including original pioneering aircraft such as the Bleriot (identical to the one that made the first crossing of the English Channel). There are around 40 airworthy planes in eight hangars.The collection is on static display most days throughout the year. There are significant flying events about monthly between May and October, ranging from daytime full airshows to evening proms and additional smaller events

Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial

The cemetery dates to 1943, when it was opened as a temporary cemetery on 30.5 acres of land donated by the University of Cambridge. After the war, it was selected as the only permanent American World War II military cemetery in the British Isles, and about 42% of those temporarily interred in England and Northern Ireland during the war were reinterred at Cambridge Cemetery. It was dedicated on 16 July 1956.The cemetery contains 3,809 headstones, with the remains of 3,812 servicemen, including airmen who died over Europe and sailors from North Atlantic convoys. The inscribed Wall of the Missing includes four representative statues of servicemen, sculpted by American artist Wheeler Williams. The wall records the names of 5,127 missing servicemen, most of whom died in the Battle of the Atlantic or in the strategic air bombardment of northwest Europe.Besides personnel of the United States Forces there are also buried 18 members of the British Commonwealth armed services, who were American citizens serving chiefly in the Royal Air Force and Air Transport Auxiliary, besides an officer of the Royal Canadian Air Force and another of the British Royal Armoured Corps, whose graves are registered and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. In May 2014 a new visitor centre opened, containing exhibits about some of those individuals interred or remembered at the cemetery, and the wider World War II campaigns in which they were involved.

Green bottle fly

Green bottle flies are similar in size to house flies and appear metallic green with portions of copper-green.They have clear wings with brownish-colored wing veins; large, reddish-colored compound eyes; and black legs and antennae. Green bottle flies are classified as filth feeders that develop in and feed on dead animals, feces, garbage and decomposing plant materials. Because of their unsanitary habitats, they may carry pathogenic bacteria that can be transmitted to people and animals via mechanical transmission. Outside, they are commonly seen on dog feces and are one of the many reasons why it is so important to pick up dog feces. Stronger fliers than house flies, green flies can travel as far as 10 miles, with wind assistance. If a large number of green bottle flies are found inside a structure, they are usually breeding inside the home or in the immediate area of the home. Examples of such breeding sites may be a dead mouse or squirrel in the attic or wall void, or a dead bird or other animal in the chimney. Green bottle flies complete their life cycle in a short time, but the period of time is affected by factors such as the quality of their food source, seasonality, temperature and humidity. The adult female fly deposits up to about 200 eggs that hatch and become larvae in 1-3 days. Within about 3-10 days, fully developed larvae leave their development site and burrow into the soil. Pupal development takes approximately 6-14 days after which time the adults will emerge and begin to feed on plant nectar, a carcass or garbage. The female fly lays eggs about 2 weeks after they leave the pupal stage. Green bottle flies usually complete 3 or 4 generations per year, more in the warmer regions of their distribution areas.

Marmalade hoverfly

Marmalade hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus, is a relatively small hoverfly (9–12mm) of the Syrphidae family, widespread throughout the Palaearctic region, which covers Europe, North Asia and North Africa. The upper side of the abdomen is patterned with orange and black bands. Two further identification characters are the presence of secondary black bands on the third and fourth dorsal plates and faint greyish longitudinal stripes on the thorax. Its color patterns may appear wasp-like to other animals, such as birds, protecting it from predation.
E. balteatus can be found throughout the year in various habitats, including urban gardens, visiting flowers for pollen and nectar. They often form dense migratory swarms, which may cause panic among people for their resemblance to wasps. It is among the very few species of flies capable of crushing pollen grains and feeding on them. The larva is terrestrial and feeds on aphids.
As in most other hoverflies, males can be easily identified by their holoptic eyes, i.e., left and right compound eyes touching at the top of their heads.

National Portrait gallery

A few shots taken in the National gallery London