January 2020 on Crosby Beach

The first sunset of 2020 down on Crosby beach with IronMenCrosby. Still air and a slight haziness bring a feeling of quiet calm to the scene.

The first day of January was fine and clear. Down on the beach during the afternoon there are more people than on a summer day, all taking advantage of the fine weather to take some fresh air and exercise on this New Year's Day. 

Late afternoon and the tide is on its way out and has left large pools of standing water on the beach which make good reflections for the pictures.

The sun sinks down through a hazy sky, with solid cloud on the horizon. The Welsh hills are invisible in the haze. A golden disc of the sun slowly disappears into the haze leaving a deep orange glow in the sky. The sea is quite calm again, the surface rippled with a light wind and seagulls are paddling in the pools stamping their legs in the hope of bringing worms to the surface.

Mid month and another evening at Crosby beach, totally different weather to that on New Year's Day It is windier than I thought it would be and the sea is quite rough. It was high tide around 14.30 so the sea is just on its way out, the waves still around the base of the nearest iron men, the noise and roar of the waves is quite loud. At the water’s edge gulls are lined up again doing their little dance with their feet in the hope of attracting worms. 

The air is very cold and the bluish light reflected off standing water on the beach makes it look colder still. There is some colour in the sun before it sinks into a cloud bank over the Welsh hills, the light of the sun glitters off the crests of the waves as they break near the beach and I manage a few good images before the light fades with little colour, the air being quite clear tonight.

As the sun sinks behind a cloud bank over the Welsh hills, the air filled with the roar and glitter of waves on the wind tossed sea. Gulls dance at the water’s edge, the air is chilled and the water a cold blue in the evening light.

____________________

The morning of the 23rd January dawned grey and cloudy but by ten the clouds had started to break and the anticyclonic gloom and mist of the last few days rolled away leaving a clear blue sky with just a mist on the distant horizon and sharp bright winter sunshine, a perfect day for some morning images down on Crosby beach.

The calm outgoing sea is a wash of pale flat blue under the dome of a cerulean sky. Sunlight dances and shimmers off the sea and is reflected off the standing water in the tide ripples on the wet sand, wavelets lap at the shoreline and the iron men cast long shadows across the sand.

 Out at sea the mist lingers around the base of the wind farm columns and obscures the distant Welsh hills. Along the tide line a scattering of mermaid’s purses amongst all the razor clam shells.

Monday 27^th January

The afternoon has turned dark and threatening as clouds sweep in from the west. A slight gap in the clouds reflects the light of the setting sun and catches the waves at the water’s edge, adding a touch of sparkle to the otherwise grey scene at Crosby beach.

____________________

Next day the weather is very wintery, with sudden squally showers of hail and rain whipping through, driven by a strong, cold north westerly wind. Mid afternoon the clouds break allowing some sunshine and I head down to the beach just after four pm. It is noticeable how much later the sunset is than at the start of January, almost an hour of extra daylight at the end of the day already.

Down on the beach the NW wind is very cold, the tide is just on its way out and the beach is very wet with standing water formed by both rain and the outgoing tide, ruffled with fast moving catspaws across the surface. The sun is just about to descend behind a band of solid cloud over Wales, but I manage to capture some pictures before it disappears, rays of light beaming out across the sky and clouds and sparkling off the wet beach. A bank of cloud moves swiftly overhead its bottom edge highlighted in pinks and oranges by the setting sun. The air is full of the sound of the sea, the roar of the waves at the water’s edge and the calls of gulls as they glide by, riding the wind. A group of Knots rise and fall along the tide line.

Looking back as I leave the beach shortly after sunset I capture this line of gulls gliding in the wind as it rises over the dunes, effortless flight in the evening light.

January Skies Part One

The weather in January 2019 has produced an amazing variety of stunning skies and cloudscapes to date. The weather has been mostly calm and some clear days have produced an amazing display of colour down on the beach.

These images were captured on the 9th January; there was a fine layer of high cirrus over the Welsh Hills which the sun was sinking slowly through, creating a fine yellow orange glow in the western sky. The air was calm, just the cries of gulls disturbing the silence.

As the sun sank behind the mountains of Snowdonia there was a plume of cloud rising from the summit of Moel Siabod, just like a volcano blowing off. 
The high cirrus clouds continued to reflect the light of the sun long after sunset, gaining in vibrant intensity, the colours changing from yellow to orange to a deep orange tinged with scarlet. Every time I turned to go home I looked back to see even more intense colours in the sky. 

Glowing white against the dark blue of the south western sky the thin crescent of a moon a few days old brightened as the light faded, the trail of a jet passing overhead scored a vivid orange scar against the clear sky.

Half an hour after sunset the light finally started to fade but there was still a strip of golden orange light across the western sky above the Welsh hills; faint rays of crepuscular light are radiated through the dust of the high atmosphere, the last rays of light from a sun now far below the horizon. Time to finally turn for home as darkness descended.

In Camera...Storm Eleanor's rough seas

The coastline at Crosby at high tide, the morning after the worst of Storm Eleanor had passed over. The seas were still high enough to swamp the promenade. The head of an iron man is just visible in the sea on the right of the image.

Just three days into January and Storm Eleanor passed over the UK, Scotland and Northern Ireland suffered the brunt of the storm but there were still 60mph winds along the Sefton coast. These images were taken at high tide around 11.45 the morning after the worst of the storm had passed over. The iron men were covered by the rough high seas and the promenade battered by the wind driven waves.

An apt warning for the stormy conditions

The head of an iron man becomes visible in a trough between the waves.

The fast moving clouds were torn apart at times so that bursts of sunlight swept across the seas...

...rainbows came and went in the bursts of light that caught the showers.

Spray from the sea filled the air

Showers sparkled in the flashes of sunlight.