Faces in the sky

Welcome to some of the images captured at the International Kite Festival at Lytham St Annes towards the end of August.

This year I was only able to stay for one day (and evening) at the event. At first it appeared that there was going to be no wind at all, which can be quite devastating for kite flyers.

But then, as so often happens towards the end of the afternoon a sea breeze lifted spirits and kites up from the sand.

There were of course some large (expensive) professional kites – a number of them looking quite scary,

but it was also interesting to see that many members of the public brought along kites of their own and were determined to join in the fun.

Kites were being flown by experts, young and old.

One thing about the beach at St Annes is that there is plenty of room – the sands stretch for miles and there is no danger from the incoming tide or indeed of bumping in to another flyer.

As darkness descended even more kites appeared. I thought the galloping horse was very spectacular, but so too were some of the other creatures lit by LEDs and powerful searchlights.

The fun stopped well after dark when the wind dropped.

Crews meticulously began packing away their canopies. It had, everyone agreed, been a most successful first day.