RTF Drone Photo Challenge May 10th to 23rd - Clocks - Winners Announced

For the next fortnight turn your attention to the subject of Clocks

And, because you enjoy them so much, here are the rules:

RULES

The requirement is to submit a single still image created using a drone to illustrate the subject of the competition. This round will run from 00:01 Sunday 10thuntil 23:00 Saturday May 23rd 2026; the subject is Clocks

The image must be captured while the competition is open. It is a Reason To Fly Challenge so please show that the image is created by a flying camera!

Editing is confined to colour and exposure adjustments and crop only. There must be no removal or pasting of an object. Stacked images, HDR images and non-spherical panoramas are considered single images for the purposes of this competition.

Images must be posted with the following information as a minimum:

In Capitals as the first line of your post:

THIS IS MY ENTRY

If this is not done at the time of posting the picture will be ignored. Should it be necessary to change your picture then delete the previous picture and add “This is my entry” - as above - as the first line of your new post. If in any doubt contact the Challenges Committee
(@Challenges_Committee)

Further Information is required

  • Location
  • Time and date
  • Aircraft/camera used
  • Feel free to add any further information that you think will be of interest

Voting

The members of GADC will judge images. They may vote for any number of pictures through an anonymous poll open for two days after the closing date for competition entries.

Voting in the poll is open to all GADC members, whether they have entered the competition or not.

The Challenge Committee may request the original media in case of a dispute.

Schedule

The competition subject will be announced every second Saturday around 22:30. The subject will be chosen by a poll of GADC members selecting from three that have been picked at random from the subject list. You may make additions to the list at any time.

The competition will run from Sunday 00.01 to Saturday 23.00 fourteen days later. Voting by poll will be open for a further two days until Monday 22:00

The winner (and second and third-placed competitors if there are sufficient entries) will be announced shortly after the vote is closed

Have Fun! Be Safe!

All flights are the sole responsibility of the individual conducting them. Each competitor must abide by the drone code and adhere to the limitations and restrictions imposed upon them by aviation law, the aircraft being used and the qualifications they hold. My leg still hurts and I need more shirts. If a flight is undertaken in a restricted zone proof of permission having been granted is required.

E&OE

@group-challenges

4 Likes

Would this include sundials?

Patrick, it’s down to you :slight_smile:

We, the Challenges Committee, provide the space to hold the Challenge and a set of rules to try to ensure fair play. The rest is up to those who enter. You suggest subjects from which three are randomly selected and you vote for your choice; the most popular is the basis for the Challenge. The most pleasing image is declared the winner. that decision is made by you, the GADC members.

So, if you think sundials can be justified as part of the wide variety of clocks available then it’s your decision, you will find out if it was a wise one when your compatriots vote on their favourite image.

(Top Tip: best results will be obtained between sunrise and sunset …)

7 Likes

:rofl:

THIS IS MY ENTRY

Location - Penmaenmawr Quarry, North Wales

Time and date - 10:59am on 10/05/2026

Aircraft/camera used - DJI Mini 4 Pro

The Penmaenmawr Quarry Clock is often dubbed the “Big Ben of North Wales” even though it is a clock and not a bell! It did however used to have a siren attached to it which is now located in the nearby Penmaenmawr museum.

The clock a major landmark in North Wales for travellers as it can be easily seen on the hillside from the main road (A55).

It was gifted to the quarry in the 1930s by an American company in Ohio as a thank you to the large order the quarry placed with them for modern equipment.

There are many pictures of the clock up close but I thought I would do one from a slightly wider angle to properly show where it sits in relation to its surroundings. It appears quite small in my photo but is actually 12ft in diameter!

Link to a news article about the clock for anybody interested: The clock dubbed North Wales' Big Ben that generations used to set their routines - North Wales Live

15 Likes


THIS IS MY ENTRY
Location: Llanwern, Newport, South Wales
Time & Date: 05:52 11/05/2026
Aircraft: DJI Air3S

The ‘Triumphal Arch’ clock was created by artist Any Plant for the Ebbw Vale garden festival.
For 16 years the giant steel clock wowed shoppers as it split apart to reveal a bizarre world of skeletons, devils, cuckoos and angels.
Children would gawp open mouthed as their parents pointed at the 30ft tall structure as it collapsed and billowed smoke before them.

It was created for the Ebbw Vale garden festival but came to dominate Newport’s John Frost Square until 2008.
Then the £100.000 timepiece vanished.
It was eventually found and has remained on a roundabout in Llanwern since 2015.

LOST IN TIME: The Story of the Newport Clock

13 Likes

Now that is unique!

1 Like

You learn something new every day!

1 Like

THIS IS MY ENTRY (if it counts, if not, let me know and Ill find a different subject)!

  • DJI Mini 4 pro
  • 17th May 2026
  • 2145

This is a starmap (at dusk so you can see the lights) at the far southern end of Scarborough South Bay. Each of the spokes relates to a time so it is a clock that you read by seeing where the Sun rises. OK its more of a calendar - but what’s a calendar if its not a very slow clock. When the Sun rises along the longest line (you can just about see heading towards St Marys Church on the headland), its dawn on 21st June!

12 Likes

The third post in this thread explains our attitude to whether entries are relevant:

We, the Challenges Committee, provide the space to hold the Challenge and a set of rules to try to ensure fair play. The rest is up to those who enter.

If you think your entry is valid then stand by your conviction. Your fellow competitors and voters will decide!

4 Likes

:joy::joy::joy:

Brilliant! Never thought of it like that before :heart:

4 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

The Mount Pavilion, Fleetwood

20:00 ( the clock was chiming when I took the pic ! ), 21/05/2026, DJI Mini 2

Morecambe Bay in the background, and some may recognise the sunken carpark as the venue for meetups in the past :wink:

7 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

All Saints Church, Castle Cary

8.18pm (church clock seems to have stopped)

Mini2

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THIS IS MY ENTRY..

Taken today 23rd May at 15:00 with Mini 4 pro.

9 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

Sundial, Saltcoats Harbour, North Ayrshire

11:28, 23.5.26

DJI Mini 4 Pro

This sundial depicts Saltcoats Time. Sundials were really the only way of telling the time up until the invention of mechanical clocks. Early clocks were not very accurate and probably too expensive for most so sundials remained an important part of everyday life. Local times around the UK varied slightly depending on the location’s longitude. Along came the railways in the early part of the 19th century. Local times then became a problem. They varied from one town to the next. Trains couldn’t run on time as no one knew what “on time” meant. Whose time? And variable timekeeping increased the risk of collisions on the track. Greenwich Mean Time, in London was therefore adopted as the “legal time” and was also known as Railway Time.
The sundial in Saltcoats takes no notice of British Summer Time it seems.

12 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

Old parkside mental asylum clock tower
Taken 21st may 5pm
Drone used mini 5 pro

This 1871 asylum and buildings converted to flats see link below for more info.

Parkside Hospital - Wikipedia Parkside Hospital - Wikipedia

8 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

Location - Eastgate Clock, Chester, England

Time and date - 21:55 on 17/05/2026

Aircraft/camera used - Potensic Atom 2

The clock stands above the original eastern entrance to the Roman fortress of Deva Victrix, founded nearly 2,000 years ago. The location has been used as a city gate since Roman times. The green illumination in your photo is part of a modern smart lighting system designed to highlight the landmark and create different night time colour displays - the clock is usually illumiated white but as it was mental health awareness week, on this occassion it was green!

9 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

Coleford, Forest of Dean

9PM, May 22nd

DJI Air 3S

The Coleford Clock Tower is the surviving tower of an octagonal church built in 1821, during Coleford’s mining and ironworking expansion. The church was demolished in 1882, but the tower remained as the town clock and central market landmark.

Before watches were common, miners and labourers used the clock to keep time for shifts and markets, while the square became a focal point for meetings and community events tied to the Forest’s Free Miner culture. Today, it remains a symbol of Coleford’s industrial heritage.

9 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

Location: St Guthlacs’ Church, Market Deeping, South Lincs.

Drone Used: Air 3S

Date Taken: 23/05/26

Some snippets from the church web site: Church In Market Deeping - St Guthlac’s

St. Guthlacs’ Church is a Grade I listed building, which has been a place of worship for over 800 years. It is dedicated to Saint Guthlac, who as a young man fought in the army of Mercia, before turning to God and becoming a monk. He became a hermit on the island of Crowland in 699 AD.

The Tower, built in the 1440s, incorporates on its outer walls: a portcullis, the coat of arms of Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of Henry VII, who lived for much of her childhood and the early years of her second marriage in the area); a clock installed in 1763; and two early 18 century sundials inscribed “The Day is Thine” and “The Night Cometh” on the south and north sides respectively.

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We’ve got text but no image!

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