At the time of writing this blog post, it is now one year on from September 2023. I hold this month in high regard because it just kept providing me with photo opportunities one after the other, especially early on when Ireland was going through a historic heatwave. To view any of the images in full in this blog post, right click onto the respective photograph and open in a new window or tap.
The month began on a fine note with some sunshine but nothing too exciting on the 1st. Captured distant cumulonimbus clouds over Poolbeg from Sutton Strand.
The 2nd was when it all kicked off. It was a lovely sunny day but through the afternoon and evening, an outbreak of sea fog occurred around Dublin Bay. It was low enough to get above it – a perfect opportunity to head to Howth where I got to be above the clouds (also known as an inversion) for the first time since December 2020. It taking place at sunset made for some stunning light as well whilst usually when sea fog outbreaks do occur, they tend to happen in the middle of the day when the sun is highest in the sky. The fog later arrived further inland and was very thick at home in Donaghmede. Beforehand, I enjoyed the sunshine in Portmarnock and Sutton.
If you ever see cloud low enough over Dublin Bay, Howth Summit is a brilliant spot to go. It’s easy to get to with public transport and you don’t need to hike or walk at the car park to get the fantastic panoramic views. The low cloud and fog over the bay adds an extra touch to its beauty on these rare occasions.
Woke up for sunrise on the 3rd on what was going to be a cracker of a day and went to Burrow Beach, Sutton. It was rather disappointingly hazy with high cloud too thick for the Howth Lighthouse PhotoPills type shots but still a lovely morning to be out and about. It was very calm with hardly any wind and not cold. Can’t complain too much with that, especially in Ireland. Reflections were class as a result.
The sunset on the 3rd though despite a relatively disappointing sunrise was absolutely wow. It was stunning. Bright crepuscular rays after the sun had set along with lots of colour from the high cirrus cloud that stuck about in a mostly clear sky. I came to such a good spot for it too at the Balscadden side of the Howth Cliff Walk. An unbelievable evening all round to conclude a superb day of weather. This was my favourite sunset of the spell but the period wasn’t going to let off without some other wonderful ones too as you’ll see in the rest of this post. So many images from this one evening that I love but my favourite has to be the sunset watchers on the head silhouetted against the crepuscular rays and purple sky at dusk. Almost nostalgic for me – it was like a throwback to the volcanic sunsets of 2019 and 2020 which I always look back on very fondly.
Another stunner of a day beckons on the 4th with a misty sunrise at the Portmarnock Golf Links. I stupidly forgot to put back in my DSLR battery after charging from the previous day. At least I had the drone to capture some low lying shots over the fields and bay. There were some great anticrepscular rays in the opposite direction of the sunrise over Baldoyle and surroundings and crepuscular rays too before the sun started to rise.
I enjoyed the sunshine on the 4th at Tower Bay Portrane with a lovely swim too on what was going to be Dublin’s sunniest September day on record. Didn’t think it could be even better than what the 3rd was.
Went back out again for sunset on the 4th, busy day… this time to Sutton Strand as a bit of a last minute decision. I didn’t think it was looking great with a cloudier, hazy horizon but it wasn’t bad at all in the end. Another lovely one to be out and about. A boat was left in the low tide which made for the perfect composition with the hazy sunset.
As the winds veered more to the south on the 5th, an outbreak of saharan dust was advected northward from Africa which was to result in very hazy or colourful sunrises/sunsets. The morning of the 5th started off with a red sky which wasn’t a typical red sky, it had that hazy dusty look and could immediately tell the saharan dust had arrived. I returned to Burrow Beach in Sutton for this sunrise after a rather disappointing bright one on the 3rd. It was much hazier. Managed to line it up with Howth Lighthouse fine and even bumped into a fellow photographer – Ann Bruen – who I’ve gone to similar locations as for a long time but never actually met her. P.s. we’re not related!
Naturally sunsets are hazier than sunrises so combined with saharan dust, the ceiling of expectation was high with a lot of promise for the sunset on the 5th that it would be a dusty muted one. Boy was it. I returned to Burrow Beach yet again as I wanted to get it setting over the Sutton Golf Clubhouse which admittedly not the strongest composition but it was successful. Looking back somewhere like the East Link bridge in Dublin City probably would have been better getting it behind the Samuel Beckett Bridge or something like that. Nonetheless, another lovely evening to be out.
I almost gave the sunrise on the 6th a miss as the eastern horizon was blocked by thick cloud but I had a last minute decision to head to Portmarnock as there might be mist. On my way down, I noticed Father Collins Park full of mist but I did not stop until I got to Baldoyle Bay before you enter Portmarnock. The reflections were great despite that horizon cloud. There wasn’t much mist over the Portmarnock Golf Club so after a quick snap or two of Baldoyle Bay, I went back to Father Collins Park which was very atmospheric went the sun had shown itself above the cloud and got many misty shots.
The sunset on the 6th was a bit of a disaster on my part. I initially went down to Clontarf but I could not find a good composition and time was getting cut short with sunset not long away. I made a last minute decision to head to the Malahide Yacht Club. I was too late for the sunset and just barely got some of the afterglow colour. This was all on me though with poor timing. It wasn’t a bad evening at all. There was a very bright sundog too.
There was the prospects for some possible overnight thunderstorms into the early hours of the 7th which may or may not ruin the viewings of sunrise at the cost of maybe some lightning strikes. Unfortunately, the thunderstorms didn’t happen and neither was there a viewing of the sunrise. A waste of time going down to Sandymount Strand, I was far too optimistic.
After that sunrise and a mostly cloudy day, my optimism declined for the sunset but nature managed to surprise me. I went out to Howth as I seen the sun starting to look hazy in the sky. It was one of the most surreal hazy sunsets I’ve ever seen. At one point it looked like low cloud would ruin the sunset but then the sun appeared again and it was very red from the haze and dust that was still in the atmosphere. With not much wind and a pleasant temperature around 20C for quite late in the day, it was an enjoyable evening to say the least. Made up for the poor morning earlier.
The peak of the heatwave was to come on the 8th which promised to be Ireland’s warmest September day on record. For many it achieved that feat and it was a true cracker of a day with unbroken sunshine though hazier than the other unbroken sunny days of the 3rd and 4th. The forecast suggested mist so I head to the Phoenix Park with the hopes of catching deer in the mist. I was largely disappointed with my original aim not coming to plan but the mist was beautiful and even got a fire sky which I was delighted with and got it with the lonely tree at Acres Road. Komorebi through the trees and mist was very vivid with the naked eye though kind of wish I had been in the little forests a little earlier when golden hour was only starting as could have got much more, I left it rather late looking around for deer. So many shots from this one morning again then stopped off at Poolbeg and Clontarf as well to take in more of the wonderful conditions. Reflections were class and still lots of mist around adding to the atmosphere. All this time it was very warm as well with 21C as soon as 10am.
The 8th wasn’t going to end there with the crackers as sunset was fab too. Returned to Howth again as had nothing else in mind and it was a red hazy one like the past day though not quite as intense. The sky itself was more colourful as well and got some drone shots.
Didn’t do anything too special on the 9th and there wasn’t much in it anyway. It was just another very warm day – felt oppressive personally – with some good sunshine but sunrise and sunset were meh. Visited Dublin Zoo with family and then provided a drone lesson later that day in Howth. Though in fairness, my capture of a red panda in the zoo this day is one of my favourite wildlife images I’ve done to date.
It was coming to the end of the heatwave on the 10th. There was more promise of thunderstorms but these never developed. It was a gloomy day with some thick fog over Howth that was about the only bit of interest this day offered. When the sun broke through over Bull Island, the light looked class with the mist – I took off from the top of Howth to get that image at a legal altitude.
A well overdue break for the next day before out again for sunset on the 12th. I visited the Baldongan Church on the way to Loughshinny for the first time, a popular sunset for getting sunsets in summer when the barley is out here. The heatwave was well over and the northerly wind had set in so it felt distinctly chilly but was lovely.
Whilst I was capturing that sunset on the 12th, a geomagnetic storm was ongoing. Nothing exceptional but it looked prime for an aurora display. Combined with the fact that it would be perfect clear skies here with the northerly wind bringing in arctic maritime air that would wipe away any haze or mist, it sounded too good to be true. I was hesitating on heading somewhere for it especially as it was cold and I was still “recovering” from all the previous week had offered to me. However, a friend encouraged me to head out saying that there’s no real reason for me to not try it so I did. After this encouragement, I head to Balbriggan around 10pm. I arrived and there was a faint green glow on the horizon. There were several people here. Not really much in it to warrant going this distance. After half an hour, there wasn’t much changing and most people had closed up shop heading home. I persisted and waited around then 15 minutes later, the sky exploded. A substorm had occurred with pillars bright and visible to the naked eye, no cloud to ruin it. This was technically my second aurora display I’ve seen but the previous one in March had a lot of cloud and I wasn’t at a spot with minimal light pollution when it peaked so this September 12th display was my first real aurora that I got to see with my naked eye. This was a very special night to me and before the aurora craze got going, I was able to enjoy it alone. Just me and the night sky. This night will forever live long in the memory.
The media got in touch with me in the days after asking how I captured it. This was before Balbriggan became a circus with capturing the aurora. I’m glad to have gotten it here before tons of people came ruining the spot for any serious photographers as people fail to realise how much leaving car lights on ruins the experience of others. If any of you reading this are the culprit of doing so, consider this next time you travel out to a spot. It goes a long way to have good manners. We all want to enjoy the show as much as you.
After the substorm died down, I head home but the aurora was not over and there was another burst through the early hours of the 13th which I head out to Burrow Beach. I struggled for composition and the light pollution there was much worse but managed something out of it before I would go for sunrise out at High Rock between Malahide and Portmarnock. It was one of those pre-frontal type sunrises that I consider good as they tend to bring high cloud from the west which is ideal for rayleigh scattering giving us a wide spectrum of colours whilst the eastern horizon is clear. In the end, the high cloud didn’t really arrive and the sky was quite clear. Did get some colour but not as much as I thought there’d be.
A quieter few days followed as the weather deteriorated. It picked up again on the 18th with an unexpected decent sunset. There was showers beforehand but not much of a rainbow. There was another aurora display but alas it was completely cloudy here. I went to Skerries with positive vibes and came away with nothing.
The 20th was showery and I attempted my bucket list shot of getting a perfect rainbow over Howth Lighthouse (which would end up happening the next month in October 2023). I did not get the perfect rainbow but I got one nonetheless that I was okay with. Felt weird seeing a rainbow that bright too without getting soaked as it came from a fleeting shower that just missed where I was standing at the west pier. Had stopped off at Sutton Strand beforehand too to chance the shot of getting crepuscular rays beaming down over the Poolbeg Chimneys, not quite in line.
I did not get up for sunrise on the 21st but as it was a beautiful sunny calm morning, I decided to make my way out to Blackrock Park for the first time and then check out the progression of the autumn colours at the Grand Canal near Mespil Road. This would be my first and last time doing so for the season as the boat restaurant never returned here and the autumn colours were nowhere to be seen. It looked like another slow season was ahead with everything still looking green at this stage.
On the 22nd, I went for sunset at Howth Castle in Deer Park as that’s one part of Howth I had yet to get. It wasn’t the most amazing sunset in the world but it was another one marked off the list. Most of my drone shots were unfortunately soft and out of focus which I did not realise until I got home and looked at them on the computer. That was a lesson learned to always focus before taking a shot and don’t be relying on the manual focus to fully lock the focus. I still make the mistake to this day though.
I attempted sunrise on the 23rd at High Rock with some long exposures as it had been a while since I did any long exposure photography. Conditions looked ideal for them. I arrived and like the previous time on the 13th, there wasn’t as much cloud as the forecast suggested so it was a bit bright at times with challenging light making it very easy to overexpose.
Overnight 24th into the 25th there was another aurora display, the third one this September and it was a pretty strong one too. Some clear spells were forecast with fair amounts of cloud. I head to Skerries hoping for the best to get something after a failure on the 18th. When the display peaked, the pillars were extremely bright. I haven’t seen pillars this bright since. They were nuts. Unfortunately, my DSLR was out of focus for the peak and left it too late as well as my shutter speed being too slow. Managed to get the pillars fine on my phone. See stories all the time saying you can’t see the aurora with the naked eye but if you get a good strong display, you choose an ideal location with minimise light pollution and an unobstructed northern horizon.. you easily can. Adjust your eyes to the night sky which includes away from your digital camera or phone screens and you’ll be shocked what you will be able to see. The aurora was still ongoing for a good few more hours after we had closed up shop. Headed back out to Portmarnock which is much more local but the display had already muted and the light pollution there was quite bad so needed a strong display to get a decent shot. Got faint signs of it at the south end of the beach.
There were thundery showers on the 26th and some loud rumbles of thunder. First went to Sutton Strand to capture some of the moody clouds from the showers. Went to Howth for sunset with another chance of the rainbow bucket list shot but the shower largely lost its energy as it approached giving only a faint rainbow beside the lighthouse at sunset. There was a slightly brighter partial rainbow earlier when I had been at the Ben of Howth before heading down to the pier. There was a lovely moon rising to the east too over the headland.
Storm Agnes – the first named storm of the UK & Ireland windstorm season of 2023-24 – arrived on the 27th bringing windy conditions. Naturally I head to the exposed coast to capture some waves. It was a pretty mediocre storm and tides weren’t particularly high. The Great South Wall had overtopping waves but they weren’t massive by any stretch. High Rock which I arrived at later when high tide had passed was a bit more exciting.
The next shoot was sunrise on the 29th which I was initially out for the full moonset trying to get it aligned with the scot pines of Burrow Beach from Howth west pier. Low cloud said no to this and the moon was too high up for a decent landscape shot. Sunrise would also be blocked by low cloud but I didn’t mind and when it appeared, all kinds of cloud showed that I didn’t see before the sun came which made the sunrise much more exciting picture wise than it otherwise would have been.
Later on the 29th, I went out for moonrise planning to line it up with the Baily Lighthouse from the Howth Cliff Walk. Low cloud initially ruined a perfect alignment but got a shot in the end that I think worked out and lots of people love it from the feedback I’ve received about it. This was the final shoot of September 2023 for me.
So what a month eh? Did you manage to get to the end? I salute you reader. Thank you very much and I hope you enjoyed the photography. This isn’t every single photograph I captured in September 2023 but is the general gist of it and all the good ones are included, ones that I consider good anyway including some mediocre ones to show the full story.
Let me know what you think in the comments below and look out for future blog posts where I may reminisce on other previous epic spells/months or give more detail on a particular photo shoot.