January in south-eastern England always provides mixed weather: some days cold, others mild, but most simply dull and grey. This week, after a seemingly endless period of little light and overwhelming grey, we had a few days of bright sunshine. Given the prospect of some light, I took myself out for some shutter therapy over three days in a row. On each of these days, the late afternoons blessed us with sunset colours that took my breath away. I'm starting my 2022 blogs with one picture from each of three successive evenings and the colours just after the sun had gone below the horizon.

Last Wednesday, I spent the day at RAF Lakenheath: I'm intending (but no promises!) to put up another blog about that visit — Eagles, Rocketeers and Lightnings :) The opening picture shows an F-15E taking off into the red evening sky after sunset, afterburners glowing brightly.

I spent the following day at Margate with my friend Phil for a day's pottering. Coffee and a cake to start, followed by a bit of PBWA (photography by wandering around). We had lunch in a pleasant cafe behind the front, and some more PBWA, before a visit to the Turner Contemporary. We finished off with a pot of tea and a final cake in the gallery's cafe, watching the sun go down as the distant towers at Reculver were silhouetted against the sky. My kind of day. The light after the sun went down was extraordinary. Pinky red over the horizon that lasted for ages. The second picture here shows the light looking north, with the Gormley installation "Another time" seeming to walk on the water.

On the last of the three days, I spent the afternoon and early evening at Oare marshes. The tide was out, and the evening was very still, but a few birds — redshanks, avocets, curlew — were busy feeding on the mudflats beside the sea wall as I walked. A grey heron gently fapped overhead and settled on the edge of the Swale. After the sun disappeared, wonderful pink hues bathed the view over towards the north and west. Over on Horse Sands, 40-50 members of the local seal colony had hauled out and were resting up; gulls sat on the Sands or floated on the flat Swale, occasionally taking off, circling over the seals, before settling down again. The third picture shows the seals and the pink light.

Even if January is parsimonious with its gifts of light, on occasion it can be most generous.