January Skies Part Two

A few days later and the weather had changed completely with strong northerly winds pushing south across the Irish Sea and driving fronts of rain swiftly across the seascape viewed from Crosby beach.
The late afternoon clouds are a strange pink-purple shade tinged with hints of blue and grey as light from the setting sun struggled to penetrate the cloud layers, tinging the thinner areas with an eerie warm glow.

An approaching cold front builds up a long dark mass of towering clouds with falling rain below which blots out white structures of the wind farms out at sea. The front moves rapidly along the coast as it is pushed south by the strong, cold winds. It is wet and windy but exhilarating at the same time seeing nature in action like this.

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.

November Skies and Sunsets

I always find that once the year has turned and November is upon us again that the skies and sunsets viewed from Crosby beach become more interesting and spectacular again. At this time of year the sun sets behind the Welsh hills, throwing the mountains of Snowdonia into sharp relief if the air is clear.

These images were taken mid November on a very clear day just after sunset. The clouds in the sky reflected the light of the sun once it had sunk below the horizon and once again the iron men provide a perfect foreground for the interesting skies and dramatic cloud shapes.

Changing lenses to concentrate on the sky above the Welsh Hills produced the images below where the sky appears to be aflame with glowing light from the sun now long gone below the horizon.

I love this time of day when the beach is quiet, the air cool but calm and the silence only broken by the lapping of the waves breaking against the shore and the haunting call of a lone gull.

Two weeks later and I capture the images below just as the sun sets behind Moel Siabod in Snowdonia.

Again it is the clouds reflecting the light that make these images more interesting.

In Camera...Iron Man Down, A New Slant on the Beach

Storm Aileen hit the north west last on Tuesday night and one of the Iron Men on Crosby beach appears to have taken a hit, the shifting sands seem to have moved the 3 metre column on which he stands, leaving the figure gazing skywards.

Down on Crosby beach yesterday, the morning after the first storm of Autumn, Storm Aileen, passed over the north west and the Sefton coast. Shadows of clouds are racing across the smooth, windblown sands, washed clean by the earlier rough high tide. The rough seas have pounded many water retaining hollows in the sand, they catch the fast moving bursts of sunlight with a silver glow, like a chain of sparkling jewels spread across the beach.

Water retaining hollows reflect the quick bursts of sunlight racing across the beach with a silver glow, a chain of sparkling jewels along the beach.

Almost in the centre of the length of beach that contains the iron men; one is leaning backwards at an angle of around 60º from the perpendicular with no visible means of support. The three metre long iron tube that anchors them to the beach must have been slowly moved over time by the soft, shifting sands.
It makes for quite a surreal photograph, the way the figure is tilted back, gazing at the sky. The weather is kind to me whilst I am there taking photographs. The patches of sunlight that race across the beach, chasing the shadows of the clouds, reflect in the ripples on the water surrounding the figure, creating a glittering sparkle on this storm tossed day.

This perspective puts a whole new slant on the world...

everything seems to be going downhill!

In Camera...Industry and Art at Sunset

 The massed army of giants, the huge wind farm now off the Sefton coast at Crosby, large metal structures that somehow appear graceful when caught in the light of the setting sun, watched by man's art, the solid cast iron figures of Antony Gormley's Another Place. The photograph was taken last week and, at this time of the year the sun sets way up to the north west, so that its low side light glances off the tall towers of the gleaming metal structures.

The sky to the north west just after sunset.

In Camera ... High Winds and High tide

This last week has seen some strong winds that have coincided with high tide at Crosby beach, the iron men have received a pounding from the waves, no wonder some seem to be sinking into the sands.

This iron man has sunk quite a depth into the sands,

he appears to be be sitting in the sea, enjoying the waves.

Rough weather for humans, dodging the spray at Hall Road.

In Camera ... Wind Torn Sky and Sea

September also bring the first storms of Autumn, strong winds mean that the iron men on Crosby beach 

are pounded by heavy seas at high tide whilst the skies are filled with swift moving clouds.