Volcanic Skies

With the continuing fine weather we're enjoying a feast of red skies morning and evening. The first two pictures are from Ritchie Dinnes, taken yesterday evening from his home on Ardnamurchan's north coast looking towards the Small Isles.

Such pictures are made by the patterns in the clouds without which the reds would largely be lost.  Unfortunately, these high clouds are tending to persist all day, spoiling the late suntans we're trying to work up before winter engulfs us. Yet, without them, the reds that are such a feature of these photos wouldn't appear in anything like so spectacular a way.

As if this morning's south coast dawn wasn't to be outdone by yesterday's north coast dusk, we sat and watched the evolution of a spectacular sunrise over Ben Hiant, this picture taken at exactly 7.03am.

Our house was designed so we could sit in bed in the morning enjoying a cup of tea and the view - and what a view it was, with the eastern sky changing by the minute - so this is what it looked like at 7.06am and....

....at 7.29am.

The trouble is that, whatever anyone may say, the camera lies, but while the sea wasn't as dark as it appears in the image, the sky was every bit as spectacular, even more so if one imagines oneself a space craft plunging....

....further and further into....

.... the cauldron of....

....a volcanic sunrise.

Many thanks to Ritchie for his pictures.