Charfield Balloon Fiesta

ok, only one balloon... lol

When we lived in Bristol it wasn't the norm to be woken up especially on Sundays by the roar of the gas burners as the balloons went overhead. I guess the winds just don't favour us here and I do kind of miss it.

This morning as I took Miss her first morning cuppa this one was floating overhead. The apparent aura around the balloon is apparently due to the heat differential between the air inside the canopy and the outside dawn air.

The extra was going to be the main (oh, it is!), but this female southern hawker insisted on flying inside my minimum focal distance and even landed on my leg at one point. Then she settled on the tree fern (far better choice than in anywhere in the pond...) and began laying innumerable eggs.

I waited for what seemed forever for the leaving flight shot, as if I was going to match her speed with my shutter...