Sundog

Busy day today, so went for a short walk - only idea for a photo was the swifts, but they weren't out above the flat this evening. Flies must be galavanting. Once I'd established they weren't coming, I brought the bins back in - then looked round at the sound of many blackbirds panicking, to see the sparrowhawk (see this blip - no photo, but you'll get the story) flying away, looking distinctly annoyed that the bleeding blackbirds had foiled its attempt at finding supper....

Then through the back gate, looked up and I knew I had my blip for the day. This is the first of a number of shots I took of two sundogs - spots of light that appear in very very thin clouds (various types of cirrus usually), level with the sun when it's very low in the sky (below c.40deg from the horizon). If the cloud is obvious, you'll not get sundogs - it's too thick. They are red on the side facing the sun, and (less obvious here) have a bluish white tail away from it.

Got my shots, carried on walking, got some more shots, carried on - and there was another, on the opposite side of the sun. It's not so common to see both sides, as the cloud conditions obviously have to be perfect on both sides.

It really is a beautiful phenomenon - not that rare, appears on about 70 days of the year - though I was wondering how many people were paying enough attention to the sky to actually see them....

Thanks to 'The Cloud Collector's Handbook, by Gavin Pretor-Pinney, for the details. Great book if you want to get more out of a walk!