A much-needed Cornwall weekend

 Just before Tier4 lockdown kicked in, I managed to get to Cornwall for a long weekend.

Autumn 2020- A great year for colour.... for those that can make it out!

 This year has been a fantastic year for colour on the trees. Something to do with the warm Summer, then a wet Autumn without any storms or frosts to knock off the changing leaves.

A new job + COVID-19 restrictions has limited how much I can get out in the mornings and I've missed some cracking sunrises that I've watched from the home office.

After a string of misty mornings, I made it out to Deepcut Woods to try to capture the season. Unfortunately, the mist largely let me down on this morning, with just a little hanging about in the lowest areas.

Quite happy with this moody shot from a location deep in the woods I've photographed before. The second one is an old favourite on my mountain bike rides... A trail segment known as "Four Seasons".

Autumn colours

Coronavirus, plus various other life distractions have meant I haven't been out much with the camera over the last few months. Which is a shame, as the Autumn colours are particularly vibrant this year, partly thanks to all the wet weather (which is one of the reasons it's hard to drag myself out!)

Here's one I grabbed on my Pixel4 while out on a walk, dodging the rain showers.

Menacing skies over Pirbright Woods, Surrey UK

A couple more from last week's New Forest trip

Very early sun in the New Forest

Light through the trees

A final farewell to 2020 Milky Way season? Plus a bonus sunrise

 Decided to make use of an empty Sunday night and head down to the South Coast to get a milky way shot. Forecast was for clear skies, with fog in the morning.

So I decided on a double-header- MW in the evening (10pm ish), then down to Dorset to try to capture the elusive Corfe Castle mist shot.

Milky Way session went well, although the sky was quite hazy along the horizon. Got some tracked shots of the sky and some foreground shots for stacking. The results are a little muddy, but still look OK.

Milky Way, Saturn, Jupiter and a meteor over the English Channel

I headed on to Dorset, had a few hours sleep in the car, then climbed West Hill in thick fog (very hopeful!). There were about 10 people up there by the time dawn hit (06:45), but still no sign of the sun. Just a few meters visibility and it was cold and damp up there.

A guy had a drone and flew up just 40m above us, from where the view was epic! A lovely view across the valley, with just the tops of the distant hills popping out above the fog, the sun spilling orange light over the fog, which was rolling over and down the hills. No sign of the castle though.

Waited until about 9, and although the sun was breaking through, there was no sign of the low-lying fog clearing, so I headed home, via the New Forest. By now all the fog/mist had gone, so the morning shots were a bit of a bust. 

I checked the Corfe Webcam on the way home and it seemed like the sun finally beat the fog at about 10:30. I could have stayed, but the shot wouldn't have been great as the sun was so high. Oh well- another day!

Waiting for the fog to clear

Fogbow behind us

THE shot of the castle!

The shot I wanted!

Breaking the lockdown blues in the New Forest

Been stuck at home for a few months due to lockdown and lack of funds, but got myself out early this morning hoping to catch some autumnal mist in the New Forest.

My destination was Rockford, to capture a classic view of the heather and (hopefully) some mist in the valley behind. Weather conditions looked promising, with a clear night and a still, clear morning.

On arrival (and on the journey down), there was no sign of mist and the sky was looking cloudy. Lots of gaps in the cloud though and a faint glow on the Eastern horizon an hour before sunrise, so I was optimistic for nice conditions, even if there was no mist. 

I found "the spot" without too much trouble, although it doesn't look anywhere near as dramatic without the mist.

Happy with the shots I got, and I headed off to Bolderwood Drive to get some shots of the morning sun coming through the trees. I'll certainly be back to try to get the elusive mist and to capture the autumn colours when they properly come through in the coming weeks....

Sunrise over the heather

Sunrise over the New Forest

Sunlight through the trees

Sunlight through the trees

Crazy weekend of astrophotography- Comets and NLCs

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE has been floating around in the at dusk/dawn for a couple of weeks and I've been seeing lots of nice shots of it. This weekend was warm, dry and with clear skies, so I ventured out.

Saturday morning first, up and out the house at 02:45, with the whole family in tow!!

Just a few minutes up the road, to Curley Hill to hopefully spot the comet in the pre-dawn sky.

What awaited us was one of the most amazing skies I've ever seen. Noctilucent Clouds were spreading out from the North and the comet was just hanging there in a beautifully clear sky.

My family now think NLC's are easy to find, having seem them on their first attempt. This despite the fact I've been hunting them for a couple of years now. It's definitely a great year for them...

Noctilucent Clouds and Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE in the pre-dawn light over Surrey
Canon 77D, 55mm lens, ISO400, f4.0, 4seconds

Noctilucent Clouds and Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE in the pre-dawn light over Surrey
Canon 77D, 55mm lens, ISO400, f4.0, 4seconds

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE in the pre-dawn light over Surrey
Canon 77D, 200mm lens, ISO400, f4.0, 4seconds

For Sunday morning, I fancied another go at the comet, but with a more interesting foreground, I decided on heading for Alton Barnes, Wiltshire. The middle of cropcircle country and an area I know very well ;o) Leaving the house at 1am !!!, the sky was looking lovely and clear.

Shooting the White Horse from the road provided the ideal elevation and distance away to get a nice zoomed-in shot of the comet hovering over Milk Hill. Really pleased with this shot and it was great to be out in the middle of nowhere at 2am with my son. A very surreal experience for us both!

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE over Alton Barnes White Horse, Wiltshire
Canon 77D, 300mm lens, ISO400, f4.0, 4seconds

Once that shot was in the bag, we headed for Avebury. I really wanted to get a shot of the stones with the comet overhead, but it's hard to get far enough away from the stones to get the angle right for a longer focal length. This shot is with a 55mm lens in order to fit in the stone. That means the comet is smaller in the image, but it's still a nice shot, with the sunrise clearly on it's way!

 Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE over Avebury Avenue
Canon 77D, 55mm lens, ISO400, f4.0, 4seconds

Summer Solstice

A very early (0230) alarm call with the family and off to Sussex to hopefully catch the Summer Solstice sunrise (due at 0449).
We chose Butser Hill, Hampshire, on the way down to a day on Wittering Beach.
The pre-sunrise glow gave us hope, but the forecast rain arrived spot on time and snuffed out what could have been a marvellous sunrise.
Still, the pre-sunrise shot is lovely and a great reminder of another special morning out with the family.
As for Wittering Beach- glorious as usual, until the hoards arrived.

Summer Solstice (Pre) Sunrise

West Wittering Beach before the crowds arrived (0800)

Noctilucent Clouds (NLC) over Surrey

The Summer night sky can be a bit frustrating in the UK. Clear nights are few and far between, there is no astronomical dark, as the nights are so short and for half the month, the moon knocks out any darkness that may be left.
So Milky Way shots are hard to come by and the Summer constellations aren't as interesting as the Winter ones.
One target I've been trying to capture for a couple of years is Noctilucent Clouds. They only appear in May/June and only between about 45 and 55 degrees Lattitude.
Even then, you never know where/when they will appear.
After a couple of nights of seeing everyone else's shots (from as far South as London and even Stonehenge), I headed out at 3am with my son to see if I could capture them over Surrey.
Here's the results... quite a nice display and much higher above the horizon than I was expecting...

What are Noctilucent Clouds?

Noctilucent Clouds over Surrey
From Curley Hill, Lightwater
Canon 77D, Canon 55mm kit lens, ISO400, f4.0, 4sec exposure

LOCKDOWN ride... Swinley re-opens

Swinley Forest re-opened yesterday for bike riding, so Liam & I headed out for a 5:30am ride to avoid the crowds.... Stunning!

Deja vu.. Another sunrise ride, this time with Liam

A ride out to Bagshot to see the Rhodedendrons at sunrise...

Another lovely sunrise bike ride

More early morning phone (Pixel 4) shots from my bike ride...

Sunrise over the ranges

Bike ride photography

Been getting out nice and early on the bike to avoid people and to get the sunrise (around 0545 at this time of year)

Inviting loamy singletrack

Sunrise over Surrey

Sunrise over Surrey

Spring morning at the Canal

View from Curley Hill, Lightwater