Stats

Stats are correct up to and including 23rd February 2023, which was day 4,200 of the blog.

Places

In this time a total of 421 named locations have made it onto the blog (thus, just over one new place every 10 days on average), though some are collectives: for example, the Lake District, a label applied to everywhere within that National Park, like Wansfell Pike, pictured above. “London” is also defined fairly loosely.

More than this number of different places have actually appeared, as when the photo is taken in or from some kind of transport, it is not always possible to specify a location. These appear as ‘Unspecified’ in the lists.

The top 10 locations, ranked by number of pictures, are:

Hebden Bridge: 1,697 photos in my home town, or 40.4% of the total. The 1,500th photo was taken on 9/9/21.
Manchester: 750 in the city where I work (occasionally, anyway). 17.86% of the total.
The Lake District: 159, accepting its identity as a single location (see note above).
London (pictured above):121.
Leeds: 59.
Brisbane: 51.
Moscow: 48.
Halifax: 42.
Bergen: 37.
Brighton: 35.

Between them these 10 locations account for 2,971 or 71.6% of all the shots on the blog. Eighteen other locations have reached double figures, the latest one to do so being Jamestown, St Helena (pictured).

The longest sequences of photos in particular places are:

Brisbane holds the record, depicted on 15 days in a row (14/3/13 to 28/3/13).
Hebden Bridge has a longest sequence of 14 days (22/3/20 to 4/4/20) although it’s still not yet quite surpassed the leader. (It has had other longish sequences but I include only this one in the list).
Melbourne: 11 days in a row (5/4/19 to 15/4/19).
Yasawas, Fiji: 8 days (16/5/13 – 23/5/13).
Alarm Forest, St Helena: 8 days (10/11/21 – 17/11/21).
Kilimanjaro National Park: 7 days (28/7/15 – 3/8/15).

From 23/10/15 to 20/11/15 there were 29 consecutive pictures taken only in Hebden Bridge or Manchester, the longest such streak.

The record for the longest gap between appearances of a place is a record that is going to keep getting beaten, and the latest place to grasp it is Ripponden, which went 3,744 days, or over ten years and three months, between its first appearance early on in the life of the blog and its second on 28/5/22 (day 3,929) with the picture here. Midgley, Nottingham, Bolton, Chester and Amsterdam are the previous record holders, and there may be other locations with gaps of more than 2,000 days.

On two occasions, eleven different locations have made it in eleven days: 1) From 13/4/17 to 23/4/17: Manchester, Wolverhampton, Lancaster, Morecambe, the Lake District, Haworth, Hebden Bridge, Markham Moor, Cambridge, King’s Lynn and Heckington. 2) From 11/3/22 to 21/3/22: Manchester, Burnley, Brighouse, Mytholmroyd, Leeds, Hebden Bridge, Huddersfield, Carlisle, Polbae, Glen Trool and Anwoth.

There were seven consecutive days of named new locations between 22/12/20 – 28/12/20 (Easton-on-the-Hill, Cromer, Norwich, Beeston Regis, Wells-next-the-Sea, Horsey [pictured] and Southwell). Though here note also 14/2/12 – 20/2/12 in Australia/New Zealand where two ‘unspecified’ locations snuck in: seven new places in seven days, but not all identifiable.

Counting different component parts of the UK separately, these locations have been distributed through 45 countries. After 2nd February 2020, there were 615 consecutive photos taken in the UK, a run which came to an end on 10th October 2021. (Some of the countries get in only because of flyovers or changes at airports, where I did not officially enter the country — these are marked by asterisks [*] in the list below.)

There are three photos which definitely include sight of the territory of more than one country: two (including the one of the Dee Estuary, below) include both England and Wales, and one is both England and France.

England: 3,461 photos, or 82.4% of the total. The Iongest run of English-only pictures started on 19/9/20 and eventually concluded on 3/6/21, a run of 258 days. The 3,000th English picture was taken on 28/6/21. Nearly half the English photos have been taken in Hebden Bridge.

Accrington (2), Amersham (1), Arnside (2), Arundel (3), Ashton-under-Lyne (2), Aston-on-Trent (1), Atherton (2), Bacup (1), Bamber Bridge (1), Bamford (1), Banbury (1), Batley (1), Battle (1), Barrow (1), Barton-upon-Humber (1), Bath (3), Bedford (1), Beeston Regis (1), Berwick-upon-Tweed (1), Billsborrow (1), Birkenhead (3), Birmingham (6), Bishop’s Cleeve (1), Bishop Wilton (1), Blackburn (11), Blackpool (3), Bolton (4), Bolton Abbey (1), Bracknell (1), Bradford (18), Brighouse (25), Brighton (35), Burnley (9), Burslem (1), Bury (3), Buxton (1), Cambridge (5), Capel (1), Carlisle (5), Carshalton (1), Chapel-en-le-Frith (1), Chapeltown (1), Cheshunt (1), Chester (3), Chester-le-Street (1), Church Fenton (1), Cleckheaton (2), Clitheroe (4), Cloughton (3), Colne (1), Coverdale (2), Cragg Vale (5), Crewe (1), Cromer (1), Crowborough (6), Darwen (1), Derby (3), Dewsbury (3), Doncaster (8), Drighlington (1), Dronfield (1), Dukinfield (4), Dunsop Bridge (1), Durham (1), Easton-on-the-Hill (1), Ebrington (1), Elland (2), Ellesmere Port (1), Elston (1), Emley (2), Fitzwilliam (1), Fleetwood (1), Foxfield (2), Garforth (1), Garrigill (1), Glasson (3), Goole (1), Grange-over-Sands (4)… [continued]

Halifax (42), Harrogate (3), Haslemere (1), Haslingden (1), Hassocks (1), Hastings (4), Haworth (9), Hebden Bridge (1,697), Heckington (1), Hereford (2), Heysham (6), Heythrop Park (3), Holmfirth (1), Horsey (1), Huddersfield (10), Hurst Green (1), Hyde (1), Ilkley (2), Keighley (9), Kendal (1), King’s Lynn (1), Kirkby-in-Furness (1), Knaresborough (1), Lake District (159), Lancaster (17), Leeds (58), Leigh (1), Lincoln (1), Littleborough (13), Liverpool (9), London (121), Long Causeway (4), Luddenden (5), Luton (2), Lutterworth (1), Manchester (750), Markham Moor (1), Marshaw (1), Middleham (2), Middlesbrough (2), Midgley (2), Mills Hill (5), Milton Keynes (1), Mirfield (1), Morecambe (31), Mossley (1), Mytholmroyd (24), Nelson (1), Newcastle (5), New Mills (1), Newton-le-Willows (1), Normanby-le-Wold (1), Northampton (1), Norwich (1), Nottingham (5), Oakworth (1), Oldham (4), Oxenhope (9), Oxford [pictured above] (6), Penistone (2), Peterborough (2), Pickering (1), Pontefract (1), Portchester (1), Poulton-le-Fylde (1), Preston (8), Ravenglass (2), Ribblehead (1), Richmond (1), Ripponden (2), Rochdale (17), Runcorn (1), Sabden (16), St Ives [Cambs.] (1), Salford (4), Saltaire (1), Scarborough (1), Seaford (1), Seascale (1), Sheffield (7), Sidcup (6), Silsden (1), Skelmersdale (1), Skillington (1), Skipton (2), Slaithwaite (1), Slyne (1), Snodland (1), Solway Firth (1), South Milford (1), Southampton (2), Southport (4), Southwell (1), Sowerby Bridge (8), Stalybridge (3), Steeton (1), Stockport (1), Stockton-on-Tees (2), Stoke-on-Trent (2), Stokenchurch (1), Strait of Dover (1 – see also France), Sunderland Point (1), Sutton Coldfield (1), Symonds Yat (2), Telford (2), Todmorden (32), Tonbridge (1), Ulverston (1), Unspecified (13), Wakefield (1), Walsden (3), Warrington (1), Wellingborough (1), Wells-next-the-Sea (1), Wendover (1), Wessenden Head (2), West Bretton (1), West Kirby (1), Westerham (1), Wetherby (6), Whalley (2), Whitehaven (1), Whitworth (2), Widnes (1), Wigan (2), Wolverhampton (2), Worksop (7), Worston (1), Wraysholme (1), Yarm (1), York (13).

Of these, the most recent one to be depicted for the first time was Bracknell, debuting on 13/02/23 with the picture just above. The place I have visited longest ago, without yet having gone back, is Stockport (14/10/11).

Australia: 109. Adelaide (2), Ballina (1), Brisbane (51), Byron Bay (3), Cleveland (1), Cooktown (1), Geelong (1). Glasshouse mountains (1), Glenelg (1), Hobart (4), Kangaroo Island (4), Katoomba (3), Laura (1), Melbourne (12), Mulligan highway (1), Nimbin (1), Redcliffe (1), South Port (1), Stradbroke Island (3), Sydney (10), Torquay (1), Unspecified (1), Wagga Wagga (4).

Norway: 95. Aursfjord (1), Bergen (37), Bodø (1), Bø (1), Finse (1), Gardemoen airport (3), Kristiansand (3), Lysefjord (1), Oslo (3), Ringvassøy (2), Seljord (2), Skulsfjord (1), Snilstveitøy (1), Stavanger (13), Tjeldstø (1), Tromsø (14), Trondheim (3), Unspecified (6), Østerfjord (1).

Scotland: 76. Aberdeen (8), Aberdour (2), Abington (2), Annan (1), Annandale (2), Anwoth (1), Arbroath (1), Ardochrig (1), Attadale (1), Ben Lawers (1), Biggar (2), Burntisland (2), Dumfries (1), Dundee (15), Duthil (1), Edinburgh (9 – pictured), Fort William (2), Forth Bridge (2), Fortrose (1), Glasgow (5), Glen Clova (1), Glen Esk (1), Glen Shee (1), Glen Trool (1), Gretna (1), Hamilton (1), Inverness (1), Kenmore (1), Kilsyth (1), Kirkcaldy (1), Lomond Hills (1), New Lanark (1), Polbae (1), Stirling (1), Strathpeffer (1), Tillicoultry (1).

Russia: 60. Domodedovo airport (4), Khanty-Mansiysk (5), Khimki (2), Moscow (48), Unspecified (1).

St Helena: 35. Alarm Forest (11), Half Tree Hollow (1), Jamestown (10), Levelwood (5), Longwood (3), Sandy Bay (2 — pictured), St. Paul’s (3).

The United States of America: 29. Atlanta airport (1), Carbondale (1), Chicago (1), Gilman (1), Honey Island swamp (1), Lake Pontchartrain (1), New Orleans (3), San Francisco (5), Stanford (2), Tuscaloosa (4), Ullin (1), Unspecified (1), Urbana (4), West Lafayette (3). Here, let’s list the states too, which are Alabama (4), California (7), Georgia (1), Illinois (9), Indiana (3), Louisiana (5).

Wales: 29. Aberystwyth (2), Connah’s Quay (1), Conwy (1), Devil’s Bridge (1), Flint (1), Holyhead (2), Llandudno (3), Llandyrnog (1), Llangollen (1), Moel Famau (1), Newport (5), Ponterwyd (1), Portmeirion (1), Prestatyn (1), Rhyl (1), Saltney (2), Tan-y-Pistyll (1), Treherbert (1), Unspecified (2).

Finland: 17. Helsinki (9), Oulu (5), Tampere (3).

The Netherlands: 17. Amsterdam (4), Driebergen (1), Maastricht (3), Rotterdam (1), Schiphol airport (5), Wageningen [pictured] (3).

Germany: 14. Berlin (3), Frankfurt (2), Hamburg (3), Munich (3), Passau (1), Regensburg (1), Simbach am Inn (1).

Croatia: 13. Dubrovnik (3), Dubrovnik airport (1), Popovici (1), Zagreb (8).

New Zealand: 13. Collingwood (2), Dunedin (1), Heaphy Track (3), Karamea (1), Marlborough Sound (1), Nelson (1), Stewart Island (3), Unspecified (1).

Tanzania: 12. Dar es Salaam (1), Kilimanjaro national park (7), Moshi (3), Unspecified (1).

Denmark: 10. Copenhagen (3), Kastrup airport (3), Nyborg (2), Øresund (1), Æbelø (1 – pictured).

Fiji: 10. Nadi (1), the Yasawas (8), Unspecified (1).

Iceland: 10. Akureyri (1), Dalvikurbygg∂ (1), Hverir (1), Keflavik (3), Reykjavik (4).

France: 9. Paris (4), St Malo (4). Also the shot of the Strait of Dover/Pas de Calais (1): one of the shots to definitively include the territory of two countries, in this case England and France.

Japan: 9. Osaka (2), Tokyo (7).

The Channel Islands: 9. Alderney (3), Lihou Island (1), Pembroke Bay (1), Sark (1), St Peter Port (2), St Martins (1).

Kenya: 8. Lake Naivasha (1), Nairobi (7).

Canada: 7. King City (1), Toronto (6).

Indonesia: 7: Bandungan (1), Ketep Pass (1), Salatiga (5).

Republic of Ireland: 7. An Clochán Liath (1 – pictured above), Árrain Mhór (1), Dublin (1), Glencolumbkille (1), Glenveagh National Park (1), Howth (2).

Czech Republic: 6. Prague (6).

Italy: 6. Fiumicino airport (1), Rome (5 — see also the Vatican, listed below).

Northern Ireland: 6. Belfast (2), Derry (4).

Portugal: 6. Cascais (1), Lisbon (4 – pictured below), Sintra (1).

Sweden: 5. Borås (2), Gothenburg (2), Unspecified (1).

Vietnam: 5. Ben Tre (1), Ho Chi Minh City (4).

Belgium: 4. Brussels (3), Villers-la-Ville (1).

Estonia: 4. Tallinn (4).

Romania: 4. Bucharest (4).

Singapore: 4. Changi airport (1), Singapore city (2 – pictured), Unspecified (1).

Greece: 3. Agii Deka (1), Lakones (1), Potamos (1). These are all on the island of Corfu.

Lebanon: 3. Beirut (3).

Saudi Arabia: 3. Jeddah (3).

United Arab Emirates: 3. Abu Dhabi airport (1), Dubai (2).

Namibia [* — pictured below]: 2. Unspecified (1), Walvis Bay (1).

Slovenia: 2. Ljubljana (2).

Turkey [*]: 2. Istanbul airport (2).

Algeria [*] (probably): 1. Grand Erg Occidental (1). (If it’s not Algeria, it’s Mali.)

Egypt [*]: 1. Lake Nasser (1).

Ethiopia [*]: 1. Addis Ababa (1).

The Vatican City: 1. Rome [obviously] (1).

The remaining few pictures are accounted for by 13 photos that have been taken in or from planes where it is not possible to identify a country (such as the one below, which could be Belgium, France or Germany going on the route of the flight I was on at the time).

Geographical extremes are as follows:

Northernmost photo: The photo of the mountains on Ringvassøy, Norway, taken on 2/10/17 at approximately 69º 55′ North.
Southernmost: Pretty much a dead heat between two photos taken on Stewart Island, New Zealand, on 20/2/13 and 22/2/13: both are more-or-less at 43º 53′ South.
Easternmost: The photo of the dancers in Nadi, Fiji, on 15/5/13, at approximately 177º 25′ East.
Westernmost: the one of the Aquatic Park Pier, San Francisco, taken on 29/3/15 at around 122º 25′ West.

Highest above sea level: discounting photos taken from planes, the highest was — and realistically always will be — this picture of the summit of Kilimanjaro. As I’m slightly below the summit here, this is about 5,885 metres or around 19,310 feet above sea level. The highest UK shots are the one approaching the summit of Scafell Pike on 19/5/12, the view from Skiddaw (2/1/19) and the picture on Ben Lawers (16/8/21); all are taken from around 3,000 feet above sea level.

People

Joe, my son, appears on 150 photographs (an average of once every 28 days)
Clare, my wife, is on 143
57 photographs can be considered self-portraits of one kind or another
My friend Steve is on 13 photos
My mother-in-law Carol is on 6, as is my Dad
My friends John B [now deceased, sadly] Geri, Doug and George, and my sister Vicki, are each on 5.
Six people are on four photos, six are on three photos each, and thirty-one other people [at least] are on two photos each.

All the rest are single-serving models. Of these the cutest – of the single-serving models, before the wife complains – is this lady pictured here (at 7.15am, I will add). No strangers have yet appeared on more than one photo but I do see the same people around in the same places now and again, and have got close to it. However, while Vill Powell, manager of Brighouse Town FC, can’t count as a total stranger, I don’t know him personally, and he’s been on twice: the second time with the photo below.

Further celebrity-spotting — at least, these people count as celebrities in my world: Bobby Gillespie; Saint Etienne; Michelle Ackerley; Peter Hook; Gogol Bordello; David Stockdale; Dick Knight; Jürgen Habermas; Etienne Wenger; Julian Cope, the Charlatans , James Murphy, Paloma Faith and Neil Young. I have no idea who the lady at the Amsterdam movie premiere was, but I assume she was a celebrity in the Netherlands at least, judging by the number of cameras (including mine) being shoved in her face.

Animals

Nine animals have definitely appeared more than once. The record for an animal is six appearances (more than most people…) by Mathilda the cat, pictured here (30/7/14 , 8/3/15., 28/3/18, 28/8/18, 8/8/19, 3/4/20). (She’s unlikely to appear again — last I heard she was still alive, but she moved house [or her staff did, anyway] and that was a couple of years ago now.)

Six dogs have been on more than once: Tara, the Railway’s adopted pub dog (sadly now deceased) has been on four photos; a whippet, first on 8/2/12 the second time in unfortunate circumstances on July 9th 2012, Maggie the black labrador (18/1/15 and 3/7/16), Reggie and Diamond, the latest generation of pub dogs. and my sister’s pooch Bella (e.g. 27/12/22).

Birds are less easy to identify for sure, but there have been two definites: the first Muscovy duck that adopted Hebden Bridge as its home appeared on five photos (4/2/12 , 7/7/13, 6/2/13, 28/5/14 and 17/7/15), but by now more than one of the ducks that have, down the years, comprised this little colony have made at least two posts.

As well as these nine, there are three more possibles: impossible to confirm for sure, but I suspect the heron I call ‘Humph’ has appeared more than once, on (at least) 10/6/19, 23/1/17, 25/5/16 and 17/2/16 — have a look at the pictures and decide for yourselves. Then there’s ‘Maris Crane’, pictured here (5/11/20), who has surely also appeared twice. Finally I think a jay that hangs around the area of my office in uni (last seen 31/5/22) may have been seen once before.

Birds are the most common form of animal to appear other than humans. A golden eagle in September 2012 was the best birdwatching coup, even if it’s not a great photo. A cassowary is probably the most exotic avian model, although a weka, a cockatoo, an emu, and, in suburban Kent, a parakeet also have a case.

Most other common forms of animal have made it onto the blog at some point, though it took nearly three years for cows and fish to make it. Exotic non-bird life include an alligator, some elephants,three water dragons , six monkeys and a giant tortoise (see ‘superlatives’ below).

The picture here becomes the blog’s second documented death so far (on 5/3/21): because believe me, the starling didn’t make it. It can be added to the unfortunate wasp depicted being eaten by a spider on 17/12/18.

Photowhacks

I only publish one photo per day, but a ‘photowhack’ is my term for when I only take one photo on a given day. This is usually a sign the day has been very boring and with dull light, to boot. There may have been occasions earlier on in blog history where I did not record these, but I have more recently been tagging them, meaning all recorded photowhacks can be seen via this link — there are presently 35 of them, the most recent being this shot, taken on 8/2/23. This is also the earliest recorded photowhack: taken at 7.30am, this represents a very early abandonment of the notion that I am still documenting the day.

Times

All times on the blog are rounded to the nearest five minutes (e.g. 8:55, 9:00, 9:05, etc). The most popular hours for taking photos reflect my average daily habits over the last ten years, like, when I am not sat in an office but wandering out in the streets, and the prevalence of daylight, as much as anything. 15:00-15:55 has long been the leader, the first hour to break 400 pictures with a present score of 447 (10.64% of the total); the runner-up is 14:00 – 14:55, not far behind with 437.

The latest picture in a calendar day was taken in Brisbane at 23:50 on 17th March 2013 (St Patrick’s Day). The earliest was taken at 00:10 on 27th September 2014 in Bergen. However, reflecting bedtimes, the earliest genuine morning shot, that is, a shot taken after I had spent the first part of the day asleep and then got up, was at 3.45 am on 7th July 2014 [pictured below] and the latest night shot (end of an evening out) the one at 3.05am on 23rd June 2018.

From 17/2/13 to 11/3/13 I had 21 consecutive afternoon shots. The longest run of consecutive morning shots is 6, and this has happened five times without ever making a 7th (and thus a full week of mornings).

The complete distribution of shots by time is:

0.00 – 0.55: 3
1.00 – 1:55: 5
2.00 – 2.55: 1
3:00 – 3:55: 4
4.00 – 4:55: 3
5.00 – 5.55: 1
6.00 – 6.55: 23
7.00 – 7.55: 93
8.00 – 8.55: 218
9.00 – 9.55: 359
10.00 – 10.55: 312
11.00 – 11.55: 422
12.00 – 12.55: 366
13.00 – 13.55: 381
14.00 – 14.55: 437
15.00 – 15.55: 447
16.00 – 16.55: 358
17.00 – 17.55: 261
18.00 – 18.55: 173
19.00 – 19.55: 139
20.00 – 20.55: 78
21.00 – 21.55: 52
22.00 – 22.55: 39
23.00 – 23.55: 12

The same time appearing on two consecutive days is less rare than one might think — as illustrated by the fact it has just happened three times in the last seven weeks: it also happened five times in eight weeks between 12/12/20 and 3/2/21. Over the course of the blog this has happened 39 times. The closest to three-in-a-row has come with 20/11/11 – 22/11/11 (9:55, 9:50, 9:50); 10/11/14 – 12/11/14 (9:25, 9:25, 9:35); 24/6/21 – 26/6/21 (12:00, 11:55 and 11:50); 2/10/21 – 4/10/21 (14:55, 15:00, 14:50); and 2/1/23 – 4/1/23 (15:15, 15:20, 15:20) — and here, 6/1/23 was also 15:15. I swear I don’t arrange this deliberately, by the way.

Some superlatives

Some of these are hard facts — others, blatant matters of opinion…

World’s oldest living land animal whose age is known: Jonathan the giant tortoise, resident on St Helena (and here he is — he is at least 190 years old)
One of the world’s top 10 views, according to the Lonely Planet (Preikestolen, Lysefjord, Norway)
World’s biggest pencil
World’s greatest cycle race, the Tour de France
The Vatican — the world’s smallest country, and also (probably) its biggest museum
Highest point in Africa, and world’s tallest freestanding mountain (Kilimanjaro)
World’s most populous city (Tokyo) and busiest railway station (Shinjuku)
World’s largest parliamentary building and, apparently, the world’s heaviest building — the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania [pictured]

World’s northernmost city of over 50,000 inhabitants: Tromsø, Norway
World’s tallest folly — Wainhouse Tower, Halifax (this has appeared three times now)
World’s longest rail bridge over water (Lake Ponchartrain, USA)
World’s oldest extant football club: Sheffield FC
World’s greatest living political philosopher (Jürgen Habermas)
The Great Orme copper mine is reputed to be the world’s largest underground excavation from prehistoric times
World’s best restaurant — Noma in Copenhagen, as voted for on more than one occasion by restaurant critics
World’s tallest fountain, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
And finally, the world’s best beer — it just is. Cheers.