Readers of the Southern Daily Echo have been treated to a bird’s eye view of Southampton, after one of the paper’s photographers was given a high-flying assignment.

Chris Moorhouse spent two hours in a plane flying above the city and the surrounding area to capture the views of the coastline and various landmarks from the sky.

During the trip Chris soared over Bournemouth, Winchester, Romsey, Bishop’s Waltham, Eastleigh, Fareham, the New Forest, Southampton and the Solent.

He was able to get aerial pictures of Beaulieu, Fawley oil refinery, Romsey Abbey and the Southampton docks as well as some residential areas – but the task was not as straightforward as it at first seemed.

As Chris worked his way through his list of landmarks the pilot told him some direct routes were out of bounds because the air space was so busy, and he also had to wait for clearance from the control tower on some routes.

Chris said: “You can’t just fly straight over busy Southampton airport is so busy. But I didn’t know that until I was up there!”

A selection of Chris’s pictures were included in a 24-page Eye in the Sky supplement given away with the Echo, and were also published in an online gallery at www.thisissouthampton.co.uk

All are also available to buy from the paper’s photosales department, with the Echo offering to put the pictures on products such as mousemats.

Daily Echo editor Ian Murray said: “People are fascinated by the pictures.

“Add to that the revenue raised and it is win-win all round.”