Eclipse glasses at the ready..........

A non-event in London as it was very overcast and cloudy this morning.

Curiously, the London Evening Standard had an article about how millions watched as " ....London was plunged into darkness"

That didn't happen!

Although I could only experience via the TV I've enjoyed all the coverage and really enjoyed the scenes of so many people coming together to enjoy the experience - I don't know the right word but somehow it was so wholesome and innocent. Brought lots of us together to share a real marvel f the natural world. Hope I'm still alive for the one in 2026

Lovely clear skies here and I saw most of it with homemade equipment.
Usually when there's any astronomical event it's cloudy, 150 years ago my great great grandfather sailed to Australia to view the Transit of Venus and it rained!

Beautiful weather up in our mountains- we made a pin hole board and watched it on my teaching white board. What surprised me is how much brighter the sun seemed to be just before it started.

I am also in Herefordshire and we had an uninterrupted view I am glad to say. I was slightly underwhelmed by the fact that the world was not as dark as I had imagined it would be. There was about 86% coverage apparently, but it was still very light here.

We had fantastic Eclipse in cloudless West Midlands

Only a partial eclipse here, we're too far south, but we had clear sky so looked through sunglasses plus a welding mask!!

a bit cloudy here in Herefordshire but was able to view the moon covering most of the sun by the 'bucket method' but did not look for long.
birds seemed more active if anything - thought maybe they were chiding themselves for having missed a day's effort when they have so much to do this time of the year

Saw sod all, thick mist and +1!
Now it's brilliant sunshine!

Very disappointing. Overcast sky all morning. If we hadn't known about the eclipse, we would have interpreted the slightly darker 'mood' as worsening weather.

Back to work......

I'm happy to have seen it briefly several times, it was more than I thought I would see. The sky, when the cloud cover was at its densest, was a peculiar flat grey colour, it was obvious that there was very little light behind the cloud.

The behaviour of the birds was a little out of the ordinary, great swarming flocks of them sweeping over the house, then disappearing for about ten minutes. They were quiet but not silent.

It has been very clear in south Yorkshire - even managed the pinhole technique! It didn't go very dark though, just a bit dull and weird.

phoenix Ariadne I'm so I have friends near Holsworthy and wish I'd paid them a visit!!!

Cloudy here in Cambridgeshire. The chickens started to wander back to their coops as the sky got a bit darker then changed their minds and wandered off to find some dust bowls.

Watched it on the telly instead.

Thick cloud here in Herts, as well. Got a bit gloomy, turned the kitchen light on, now a bit brighter outside.

Well, that was a bit of a damp squib. I did manage to see the sun thought the clouds very briefly. It looked like a crescent moon. I had the bucket exactly in the right place too. Pity about the cloud cover.

Thick blanket of cloud here.

Only thing to see was some type of hawk spiraling high up on the thermals. Some compensation

Well, that was interesting. I saw most of it. The pan of water on its own was too bright for my eyes, but two pairs of sunglasses dimmed it enough to see it clearly.

Now I have a pan brimful of water to carry to the sink and empty.

Mishap The pupil can't adjust far enough for the vast amount of energy directed through it from the sun. A camera flash is a lot less powerful, and very brief, a short blink in sunlight would be over very fast but the light would still stream in. It just burns the retina like a laser beam.

It got darker and colder here, now brightening up. No need for special equipment as nothing visible through the clouds.
Must admit I have had a bit of double vision just watching it on TV, so I can see why proper eye protection is necessary.

A clear period has allowed me to see most of the eclipse right through to the 'smile'. The birds were quieter than usual, apart from the odd jackdaw. The pictures on TV from the plane above the Faroes have been spectacular.

Was that it?

Clouds and haze cleared here and the eclipse has just passed its"peak"(?) -a thin sliver like a smiley face! I remembered that thing about birds falling silent etc from the 1999 eclipse, but have to say it didn't happen here this time -still chattering away and flying around.
I wonder if it is a feature of the double glazing, but although the sun was clearly too bright to look at directly, I found that from a particular angle I got the crescent shape "reflected" as it were in the glass. There was a good website which gives an animation for your locality so I was able to check against the time.
Now feeling depressed as I wonder if I will see another one in my lifetime -oh momento mori.

A bit grey here now - weird yellowy-grey light all around. We have used pinhole and a colander - works fine, but quite a tiny image.

I am fascinated about the necessary precautions as I would have thought that the eye would have automatically closed the pupil or blinked in order to protect the retina - as it does with a camera flash.

I can recommend the frying pan plus two pairs of sunglasses.

The clouds have now closed in so I think I may miss the climax

Just saw it here. Looking forward to asking GDs what they thought of it.