Eerie light. 16 October 2017 A crescent of silver moon is lost in cloud. Did I imagine it? Dawn is murky but it's far darker by 9.00am, triggering street-lights. The River Kent flows dark and silent after the turbulence of last week when rocks rumbled in the bed of the river below Stramongate Bridge, below the weir almost lost to standing waves. There's an eerie light in the sky, a flush of red. Hurricane Ophelia is heading our way. Red is her colour.
Gargoyles on a church tower. These reptilian creatures have a long history. They've seen it all before. The Great Storm of 1703, the Great Storm of 16 October 1987, and now they sit by the weather-vane, watching for the coming of the last of Hurricane Ophelia. Cormorant of the River Kent, shag, or Pterodactyl? The latter seems most likely. I've seen these birds occasionally in the river but I'm surprised to see them high up above The RIverside Hotel as the darkness descends at 9.00am. It's raining, but not heavily. And this October day is unnaturally warm and still. A flock of jackdaw circles high above Stramongate Bridge, vocal about the silent gargoyles who have nothing to say for themselves.
By mid-day there is no sign of Ophelia here, although the light on the horizon to the east is eerie, a reddish glow. Later in the day, weather forecaster Sarah Keith-Lucas tells of a red sun with red dust particles carried on storm-force winds. Saharan dust with wildfires from Portugal and Spain, drawn in on warm tropical air by Hurricane Ophelia. As the winds gather the birch trees are stirring and the sun comes out! All rather strange.
I wonder how the gargoyles fare during the night as things clatter and bang about in strong gusts of wind.
Ireland is on red alert, bearing the brunt of the storm, with loss of life and significant damage.
By mid-day there is no sign of Ophelia here, although the light on the horizon to the east is eerie, a reddish glow. Later in the day, weather forecaster Sarah Keith-Lucas tells of a red sun with red dust particles carried on storm-force winds. Saharan dust with wildfires from Portugal and Spain, drawn in on warm tropical air by Hurricane Ophelia. As the winds gather the birch trees are stirring and the sun comes out! All rather strange.
I wonder how the gargoyles fare during the night as things clatter and bang about in strong gusts of wind.
Ireland is on red alert, bearing the brunt of the storm, with loss of life and significant damage.
Flock of jackdaw circle the gargoyles and weather-vane. Eerie light and a reddish-glow in the sky.
The Great Storm of 1987 was unforgettable for anyone who was caught up in it. A boy ran across a playground with a chunk of corrugated iron chasing him. Windows bowed and creaked under the pummelling of storm-force winds. In the school library ceiling-tiles shifted and fell in and we evacuated the building. The storm didn't finish it off but it's all gone now, grabbed in the jaws of a dragon-like creature that tugged and pulled its fabric apart. Someone made a U tube video of the school's demolition.
The day after The Great Storm we went to Brean Down birding, a sunlit walk on that finger of land reaching out into the Severn Estuary. All around us, rainbows and storm-clouds. Never seen so many rainbows. And the devastation of great swathes of trees brought down.
The day after The Great Storm we went to Brean Down birding, a sunlit walk on that finger of land reaching out into the Severn Estuary. All around us, rainbows and storm-clouds. Never seen so many rainbows. And the devastation of great swathes of trees brought down.
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