A small selection of my most recent images taken over the last month or so before being moved to their designated galleries.
Quite a strong emphasis on astrophotography this month and it's difficult to pick a highlight................On October the 8th a massive CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) erupted from the sun and hit Earth directly the 10th. This caused brilliant Aurora Borealis display rivalling those on May the 10th earlier this year which I somehow managed to miss. I wasn't going to miss out on this event though so a trip to Norfolk was arranged.......all I had to hope for was clear skies. Although the characteristic red pillars frequently reached overhead the highlight for me was just how far above the horizon the green sub arc was...........something I thought I would have to travel much further north to ever see.
No sooner was that event over my attention turned to Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS). Discovered in January 2023 this has long been on astronomers radar hoping it would survive its perihelion (closest encounter with the sun) to allow star gazers in the Northern Hemisphere a once in 80,000 year view about an hour after sunset. It turned out to be naked eye visible for just a couple of nights before the rapidly increasing distance from us and a full moon puts it back in the arms of only those with deep sky imaging equipment.
Another highlight for me was imaging star trails over the Happisburgh Time & Tide Bell in Norfolk. This fairly recently installed landmark makes a superb focal point for images like these and I was able to complete a star trails image and a Aurora image too at this location just a week later before the major displays on the 10th.
Other astro events this month were the last super moon of 2024 (The Hunters Moon) which I managed to photograph just as it was setting on a morning when I'd actually intended to photograph Red Deer (Cervus elaphus). Finally I've included an image of Ursa Major reflecting brightly in a Norfolk lake................I think this is the first time I've photographed a constellation as the main subject but it's just so iconic and the lake was so still I couldn't resist.
If none of the above had happened then my highlights of the month would have been a lovely encounter with a male Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis). They are incredibly fast flyers and in flight images are very difficult to obtain but when I spotted him perched on the other side of the lake I readied my camera in the hope he would fly towards me..................................he did and resulted in probably my best Kingfisher images to date.
Another special moment was my encounter with a Wryneck (Jynx torquilla) along the Norfolk coast path. I've only ever seen these rare migrant visitors once before in Cornwall so to see another at close quarters was lovely. I've also included an image of a Long-tailed tit ( Aegithalos caudatus), not rare but impossibly cute they are difficult to resist photographing.
Deer make up the final selection for the month. Firstly Chinese Water Deer (Hydropotes inermis) where I'd parked up down a country lane having seen them on previous occasions foraging in arable fields. They appeared completely unaware of my presence in beautiful pastel early morning light and hung around for half hour or so until they made their way into deeper cover for the day.
Finally my first encounter of the year with Red Deer (Cervus elaphus). Now that astrophotography is taking a back seat for a little while (unless there are any more aurora alerts that is) I hope to get out of some crisp misty mornings in the coming few weeks to capture some images of this charismatic native British mammal
