Well, not really but the black and white images kind of suited the title! In the last few days I’ve been walking Ferb at the “Flashes” as they’re known locally. This is shortened from the Ashton’s and Neumann’s Flashes, an area of reclaimed land that was heavily mined in the 18th and 19th centuries leading to serious subsidence, forming craters and the creation of lakes where the River Weaver flowed into them. Today it’s a rather unique site where some seaside plants thrive due to the high salt levels and it’s rich with birdlife, butterflies and dragonflies. There are several circular walks that link to the wider Northwich Woodlands and it’s easy to walk to Marbury Park and the Anderton Boat Lift. From most points you are reminded of the industrial heritage of Northwich by the dramatic factories on the horizon with  pipes and chimneys pumping out steam.

As you can imagine it’s a great place to walk, with a multitude of circular routes to choose from and real variety of scenery – woodland, canals, lakes, meadows and rivers. And of course it presents tons of lovely photographic opportunities. During today’s walk we met many other dog walkers but also lots of people out and about with their cameras attracted by fresh snowfall, clear blue skies and the threat of a thaw within 24 hours.

I didn’t end up taking many photos, as I was simply enjoying the walk, watching Ferb’s highly comical run – his back legs seem so much longer than the front ones and he lollops clumsily along but somehow at high speed. When I got back and looked at my shots I decided to have a go at thinking square again – admittedly I didn’t shoot them with this intention but I’ll allow it as another useful exercise. (If you don’t know what on earth I’m talking about you need to look back at my last two posts).

I thought the images looked a bit flat and monotone so I experimented with some black and white conversion as well as the square cropping. I like the results but am not blown away. Looking forward to more walks over the coming weeks and more photo opportunities.

I’ve written about the Northwich Flashes before – I was shocked to see it was 4 years ago almost to the day. Click here to read what I thought back then – apologies that the pictures aren’t there – I think Blogger ate them as I couldn’t have deleted them as I wouldn’t even know where they go I’ve posted them! I’m going to root out some photos I’ve taken in the last 4 years and post them.

By Jane Burkinshaw. Share this post by clicking on one of the Share buttons on the right hand side. I’d love to hear your comments too!