Eventide over Grange Farm

 

An April Evening

Sunset through raindrops

 

 

Sunset yesterday evening

These photographs were taken from my back doorstep around 5 o’clock yesterday.  The weather throughout the day had been very mixed  –  very windy, occasional brief bursts of sunshine, a little rain  and a lot of cloud.  This sunset was therefore a very pleasant and unexpected surprise.

Summer evening

Bamburgh Castle at sunset

 

Situated on the north east coast of England, near to the border with Scotland and just a few miles south of Lindisfarne, Bamburgh  was a military stronghold for many centuries, even pre-dating the Roman Conquest.  Following the Norman Conquest it occupied a strategic position during the numerous wars against the Scots..  I t was the seat of the powerful Dukes of Northumbria, the Percy family  –  best known to many through Henry Percy (Hotspur in Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part One)  In 1464, during the Wars of the Roses, Bamburgh became the first castle in England to be destroyed by gunfire.  It never regained its status as a powerful fortress.

Evening Star

Yesterday evening, as the last rays of the sun faded over the horizon, the vast, cloudless expanse of western sky provided the backdrop for just two gleaming celestial bodies  –  a crescent moon and the Evening Star (Venus).

 

Click the image to enlarge

 

Yesterday, late afternoon

After the showers

Yesterday was a day of heavy showers, punctuated by occasional brief spells of sunshine.  It was mischievous weather  –  the sort that lulled you into a false sense of security and then soaked you to the skin!

But by early evening the showers had ceased and the rays of the sinking sun produced a range of soft pinks and blues in the passing clouds.  The only sounds were bird songs, the occasional bleating of lambs in the sheep field and the apologetic hourly chime from the clock in the church tower.  It was a magical time.

 

 

A long walk towards night

Last rays of the day

A picture taken through my window, looking across the sheep field.

It is a beauteous evening

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,

The holy time is quiet as a Nun

Breathless with adoration; the broad sun

Is sinking down in its tranquility;

The gentleness of heaven broods o’er the Sea.

William Wordsworth

 

 

Evening meditation

Evening meditation

End of the day

This photo was taken from my kitchen window just two weeks ago.  It was actually just 4.30pm but the rapidly setting sun briefly created this incredible sky, silhouetting the tree on the distant horizon.