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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Matt Bryan

WATCH: Mechanic wows locals with stunning autumn drone footage as he urges people to look after their town

A Lanarkshire photographer has wowed locals with his stunning drone footage of his hometown.

John McLean has been inundated with kind words after capturing areas of Hamilton and Blantyre from the sky.

His beautiful autumn scenes feature the changing colours of local woodland as Lanarkshire residents brace themselves for winter and decreasing temperatures.

The 55-year-old mechanic is a passionate figure in the community for local nature and protecting the environment.

He has been involved in many mass litter picks in recent years and is always encouraging people in the area to enjoy their surroundings and look after their town.

John, from Hamilton, is part of Hamilton and Blantyre Litter Pickers, a community group which brings together people to clean up messy areas and places which have become a problem for discarded litter.

The beautiful scenes show Hamilton in autumn (John McLean)

In April this year, he successfully raised awareness of the Cadzow Burn in Hamilton by capturing photos of a swan nesting in a pile of rubbish in the water.

By highlighting the issue, John urged residents to be more responsible when discarding their rubbish.

Now, exercising one of his favourite hobbies, John is showing everyone just how picturesque Hamilton is by sharing his terrific drone footage.

He told Lanarkshire Live : "I've been flying drones for about two years now. I started the YouTube channel and I've just been getting better at it.

"It was a hobby I picked up over lockdown, I've always been into photography and it's just nice to see it from a different angle.

(John McLean)

"For drone people, autumn is always the prime time. If you can get the right time you can see the different types of trees and all the different colours. It's like a tapestry, it's amazing.

"This video helps people appreciate their surroundings. It's on their doorstep. I've said on some of my videos to look at the green spaces because they're getting less and less locally.

"So it helps people look after the area and not throw their rubbish into them or use them as dumping grounds.

"It's disheartening to see people drop litter. I'm part of the litter picking group and we go out once a once to attack a place and we can easily get 30 bags full of rubbish, so we hope people can look after their town that bit better."

You can find more of John's videos on his YouTube page here.

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