Sunrise

Friday the 13th!  Actually this is the third Friday 13th so far this year.

Woke up at stupid o'clock and realised that I wasn't going back to sleep easily.  Looked out and saw the moon in the lightening sky, and thought "Sunrise must be soon".  Other birds were joining in with the Song Thrush.

Flask of coffee, tripod and camera bag and off to find a location.  Not enough time to to get to the coast so thought to try the North Dalton to Warter road.  Took the first picture at about 4:20am...

The sky had yellows, blues but mostly red.  "Red sky in the morning...."

Realised that I didn't have the mounting plate for the tripod (it was back at home on the telescope),  so all the photos are hand held and I apologise if the quality is a bit iffy.  I am afraid that the mantras of "tack sharp focus" and " hyperfocal distance"  got a bit forgotten in fumbling in the near dark for a vantage point.

Hedges and wires were getting in the way so drove towards the sun and a bit of elevation at Tibthorpe.  The roads were empty of traffic but full of wildlife.  Mostly Wood Pigeons of which there were thousands but everything seemed to want to sit on the roads for a kip.  A  few dozen family groups of hares, and the odd deer, but quick to move out of the way.  There is a new wind turbine but I couldn't seem to find an angle with the rising sun.

 So just took what I could...

On to Sir Tatton Sykes monument to get a bit more elevation...

The monument looking quite splendid in the morning light.

By about 5:10 the cloud that the the red sky had threatened was starting...

By 6:00 the sky was a flat grey/white.  If I had slept till a sensible time I would have missed the whole thing. 

(A note about times.  When I looked at the time codes on the photos I couldn't understand the times they were saying.  When I checked the clock on the camera it was 40 minutes slow (or, given that I set it when I bought the camera in January 2011 and never thought to look at it again, 20 minutes fast).  I will go back and where necessary apply corrections indicated by saying "about".  Suitably chastened I promise to check it more often).