Spadeadam Wildcat -14 May

[catkins]

A few photos of AAC AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat AH1 ZZ395 'Recon21' which was one of three Wildcats (Talon 707 & 709 being the other two) that were training on Spadeadam EW Range yesterday afternoon (14 May). Mostly operating up to 10 miles out of the range and at different altitudes meant that the photo opportunities were limited until the later afternoon, when it started operating on the east side of the range.
For once Spadeadam and low fly activity were working in cahoots with something called sunshine, and I had plenty of good opportunities to practise manual focusing (the auto focus is not fully reliable on my camera!).
A hell of a lot of pollen was coming off the millions of conifers that make up Kielder Forest and heat haze made distant shots a bit iffy, but I'll include a few 'distant helicopter in landscape' shots!













One observation - that nose mounted camera has a weak spot below!
Regards
Chris

[Chris Procter]

Great to see the Wildcats up at Spade for you Chris
nice set
Chris

[catkins]

Thanks Chris P, good to see a little action close to, but wasn't helped by some walkers telling me about the 'old days of hundreds'! And definitely not the place to be if you have pollen allergies! Anyhow, roll on the visits from Ospreys!

[venom]

cracking photos buddy
colin