tarboat's photos

Operated by E.ON UK CHP Ltd, the Winnington Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant in Northwich, Cheshire, is the largest such scheme in the UK. The scheme supplies a total of 400MW of steam to two Brunner Mond soda ash works, at Winnington and Lostock. Its 130MWe output also supplies the needs of the two sites. Located at the Brunner Mond Winnington site, the main CHP plant consists of two gas turbines, two heat recovery boilers, a steam turbine and stand-by boiler capacity. The CHP plant supplies steam & electricity into the Brunner Mond site systems. A proportion of the steam used is returned to the CHP plant as condensate. The fuel for the Winnington plant is natural gas which is supplied through a new 11km underground pipeline from the National Gas Transmission System at Nether Tabley to the Winnington site. The Lostock site is supplied with steam from the Winnington CHP plant via two 5km over ground steam mains. Upon delivery to Lostock, some of the steam is passed straight to the site processes. The remainder of the steam is passed through a steam turbine located on the site ? and in doing so generates more electricity before it is sent into the site processes. Again, a proportion of the steam used is returned to the CHP Plant as condensate via a pipeline.

I think the limekilns at the Winnnington works of Brunner Mond & Co are a particularly impressive structure. This view is taken across the River Weaver from the Anderton Nature Park. The chimneys on the right are part of the EON combined heat and power plant that supplies this works and also the Lostock works a couple of miles away.

The Ynysypandy slab mill only had a working life of 10 or 11 years as the Gorseddau quarry that supplied it with slate closed in 1867. This massive structure is now a scheduled ancient monument. The distant remains of the quarry can be dimly seen above the tramway embankment to the right of the building.

Beach huts at Llanbedrog near Abersoch on the Lleyn Peninsula.

Dead and dying trees near Malpas, Cheshire, UK

Remains of the aerial ropeway that brought copper ore down from the mine in Cwm Bychan near Beddgelert to the processing mill. Production ceased c1930 and the pylons have remained safe from scrapmen ever since due to the remoteness of the site.

January 2006 on the Yuanbaoshan Colliery Railway near Chifeng in the Mongolian Autonomous Region of China. The JS class locomotives had only a few weeks left before replacement by new diesels. Well maintained to the end these locomotives made a fine sight.

The Downy Emerald (Cordulia aenea) is a notable insect in Britain. The hairy abdomen and wonderful green eyes of this insect make it one of my favourites.

Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus). I thought I would try a shot from the front and surprised myself when I saw how hairy it was.

Gatekeeper ( Pyronia tithonus ) in Cheshire, UK

A teneral male Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea) captured whilst resting in a tree lined lane in central Cheshire. It was well worth waiting for this insect to land as it allowed me to approach really close.

The blue bridge over the Dee at Aldford provides access to Eaton Hall, seat of the Duke of Westminster. It was designed by Telford and erected in 1824 by William Stuttle Junior.

The two power stations at Didcot dominate the surrounding area. This clump of cooling towers looms over the local village housing.

Out and about across Cheshire I caught this male Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum) by a marlpit in Church Minshull. The temperature in the shade is 33C (>90F) and it is 'obelisking' or pointing its body towards the sun to present the smallest surface area and thus avoid overheating.

Found under a pile of hedge cuttings in my garden. Yes it really was this colour!

My friend does not like cows and when we went looking at lead processing remains in Winster we met this fine beast which insisted in following us. It must be boring standing in a field all day ingesting lead through the grass.

One of the joys of my job is that sometimes I find myself in places with wonderful views. This example is taken from the Gritstone Trail above Macclesfield and looking north-east toward Big Low and Charleshead in Rainow. Great walking country.

Although spar is no longer mined here the heapstead remains standing and the business of supplying a range of stones for decorative and landscape use continues to flourish.