I love having wildlifey friends. Late last night I was relaxing with a book propped up on my lap when I get a call from Zahrah:

“Bring your camera and walk towards the park. Come quickly.”

Naturally I was a little unnerved, especially since her message was so mysteriously vague. Still, I knew it would be a wildlife treat, so I donned wellies and a waterproof and slung my camera over my neck, hastily making my way to the park.

Bats? Owl maybe? Whatever it was, I knew it would be something worth seeing. Before long Zahrah came into view, her arms silhouetted as she waved at me. A bag sat at her feet – clearly she’d seen something extraordinary on the way back from the train station.

She pointed eagerly over the park and I saw the most spectacular moon I’d seen in a long time. Shamefully, I’d slept through the last blood moon, so I was thrilled to see this one. It hung like a pockmarked pumpkin in the sky, ghostly orange against the jet black sky. I hadn’t brought my tripod, but the park fence worked just fine. Miraculously in fact, I wound up with a photo of the moon that I was half proud of. Anyone who knows me understands my struggle to get a decent night sky image; it’s certainly not my strength in wildlife photography. So to finally get one – and a blood moon at that – it made my night. Or what was left of it at least.