I was excited about the chance to see an eclipse today as this is not a phenomenon I remember ever having witnessed... though I may possibly have done as a child! The last time a solar eclipse could be seen (or not seen as the case may be!) in the UK was 1999 and rather ironically, I was on honeymoon in Sri Lanka at the time so missed it! Usually Sri Lanka is one of the best spots in the world to see eclipses, but on that occasion the UK was apparently the place to be! Typical!

The weather this morning looked as if it was not going to cooperate and we woke up to a sky covered in thick grey cloud. Thankfully though, as the eclipse commenced at 8:30am, the clouds lightened a little, the sun put in an appearance and we were treated to quite a spectacle! I had been a little worried about whether I would be able to take photographs as I do not possess a solar filter for my camera. As it happened, the cloud cover provided a perfect filter and, by selecting a very narrow aperture, high shutter speed and utilising the LCD screen rather than looking through the lens, I was able to point my camera quite safely and get some shots... well, lots of shots! I have left many of them in here because as you scroll down, it gives a bit of an impression of the sequence of events across the hour or so that this took place!

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Here I managed to hit the shutter just as a plane passed in front of the sun... what a view those passengers must have had!

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At this point, the sky started to get very much brighter and I felt it was no longer safe to take photos. On went the Eclipse spectacles and I just enjoyed the rest as a spectator! Quite a remarkable sight, not something I will forget in a hurry! :)