Eclipse!

Being for now a 'man of leisure', I was able to drive around Aberdeenshire this morning to find a place in the sun from where I could get a good view of today's eclipse.

I eventually found myself about half way along Glen Muick, where the Allt an Uisge burn runs under the road before plunging into the River Muick.

There I (and a small group of others who joined me beside the road) experienced the eerie sort of twilight I remember so well from the eclipse back in 1999. Then, as the moon started to clear the sun's disk, a small patch of 'lumpy' grey cloud blew across, allowing me to take a series of pictures of the actual eclipse as it unfolded, using a 135mm lens (and in case you're wondering, I didn't look through the viewfinder at the sun, I used the LCD screen on the back of the camera instead!)

My sincere commiserations to everyone who was not able to get out of doors to see this, or whose view was blocked by too much cloud.