We were just about to call it a night and return home for a nightcap when Jane saw a sliver of red appearing above the trees on the Fitties. Three of us had gone down to the promenade by Buck Beck to try and obtain better views of June's full moon: the strawberry supermoon, one of only three supermoons this year. A supermoon is a full or new moon that coincides with the closest the moon comes to the Earth's orbit and so it appears larger than normal. When we arrived, there were several other moon watchers along with a fleet of campervans that appeared to be overnighting (illegally?). Although it was a beautiful evening with moon rise sceduled for 1017, there was a bank of cloud masking the horizon. Things were not looking good until we spotted it as we were on the point of giving up. It did seem large and was an amazing deep red. However, as this low in the sky, it was a challenge to photograph as it was not reflecting much light. I cound only manage a 1 sec exposure so getting the image critically sharp was nigh on impossible as the moon moves surprisingly fast. More or less immediately on showing its full disc, the moon proceeded to disappear behind the bank of cloud. Still, it was an amazing experience and the next supermoon is in July, the Buck Moon on 13th.
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