Heather Dawn

Woke at 5 am to mist and fog.  It was definitely worth a drive up onto the Chase to see what might be on offer.  As I parked up near Freda's Grave I was passed by another photographer also hoping for some morning fireworks.  We both looked up, but all we saw was a resolute grey sky, though the mist was still lingering.

You always take a little bit of a gamble that the sun will break through early enough to make for good images.  At this time of year the sun is strong, so there is a better opportunity, but there is no guarantee.  I was idly taking images to emphasise the mist when the sky started to colour up across the Sherbrook Valley.  It then took literally seconds for the whole sky to change and an orange orb to appear.  This was my favourite from the morning, but I also took an HDR panorama of 30 shots (see extra).  It's almost mind boggling to realise that Lightroom can combine these images into a single shot in one go.

Later we used a couple of different abandoned railway tracks to walk up to Chasewater and return.  One, the Maclean Way, has been lovingly brought into use by volunteers and now provides a route from Walsall to Brownhills.