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.

Winter Calm

Two days after New Year I was back down on the beach, the day had been unusually clear and calm, with some light cloud in the sky, perfect conditions for a possible good sunset.

A bank of cloud out to the west obscured the sun before actual sunset and the air was very still, not a breath of wind, every sound carrying a long distance in the tranquil air. The pools of water remaining on the beach were perfect mirrors, reflecting the silhouettes of the iron men and the colours of the sky.

Channels of water left from the last high tide offer perfect mirror reflections and the cries of distant seabirds echo in the completely still air as dusk falls on Crosby beach.

As I moved away I noticed groups of birds out over the sea, flying in formation low over the water, like murmurations of starlings but I suspect that they were Knots, the black formations looked almost like waves forms travelling across the surface of the sea at times.

Formations of Knots low over the flat surface of the sea appeared to be ripples on the surface at times as they flew low over the surface.

Last Light of 2018

The last day of 2018 and the last light of a darkish winter day of anticyclonic gloom, a slight gap in the clouds over Wales allows a few rays of sunlight to filter through, lightening the mood at the end of the day.

31st December 2018 and I walk down to the beach to hopefully capture the last of the daylight for 2018. It had been a dark grey day of anticyclonic gloom, with few breaks in the clouds evident but I walked down in the hope that there might be a glimmer of magic before sunset. That hope was rewarded as a gap in the clouds over Wales allowed the last rays of sunlight to filter through, casting a warm orange glow on the waters of the River Dee and the Welsh hills above Holywell.

Down on the beach there is a cool north westerly breeze whilst, out on the horizon, a grey curtain of rain is evident, masking off the line between sea and sky. the tide is incoming.
Over Wales there is a glimmer of light, a gap in the clouds, probably caused by the mountains of Snowdonia, is letting a patch of golden orange sunlight filter through, and it falls in bright rays of light falling across the hills and shining off the sea on the coast near Holywell. 

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...Clear Winter Sunset

Last weekend, before the current "Beast from the East" storms, we enjoyed a few clear but cold winter days with a sky of unbroken blue. On the Sunday the horizon was clear and sharp and the setting sun at Crosby beach sank cleanly below the horizon, undisturbed by the clouds that usually gather over the distant horizon.

The Stena-Mersey sails past the Iron Men on Crosby beach

The sun sinks cleanly into the sea.

Waiting for a possible green flash after sunset, which sadly did not appear on this occasion.

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.

In Camera... Winter light, the Last Days of 2017

The last light of 2017 lingers on, reflected in the pool of water surrounding an iron man on Crosby beach. Out to the west leaden grey storm clouds gather over the Welsh hills.

The last days of 2017 were days of sunlight and storm, producing a good variety of lighting effects down on Crosby beach. The image above  (AG786) was taken at what should have been sunset on the last day of the year but the thick storm clouds out to the west obscured the sun. The only light was from a small patch of clear sky above the beach which this pool reflected.

A little earlier the same light had reflected off the sea, a shimmer of silver light in an otherwise grey scene.

A couple of days earlier swathes of snow and sleet had swept across the Wirral peninsula late in the afternoon, falling from a high, heavy cloud mass and producing a veiled grey curtain between the beach and the sunset over the distant hills of North Wales.

Here the setting sun managed to burst through the storm clouds in one glorious burst of yellow light

before the rain and sleet swept in to obliterate the light.