Author: Photos by Jez

Hi All 👋 My entry for this weeks challenge, set by Amy: Colourful April.

In Scotland at the moment we haven’t quite got into the green phase of spring. The Trees are only just starting to sprout & the wildflowers are not yet coming out to play; it’s almost a very autumnal scene on the moorland. April colours are a palette of browns, greys, golds, all set off by bright blue skies.

These shots I’m sharing with you today were all taken yesterday, just after sunrise. What is special about the April colours here, is the cleanness of the air. As we move through spring into summer, an inversion sets in — a quick meteorological lesson: Ordinarily temperature decreases with height, but during the summer months when high pressure is more prevalent over Scotland, cold air from higher up in the atmosphere sinks, dries out & warms up, forming a layer where the temperature actually increases with height — the inversion (usually around 2000-3000ft). This acts as a physical boundary in the lower atmosphere, trapping dust & industrial particulates lower down, causing haze. At present, with low pressure dominating, this is not the case, with very crisp, clear air and fantastic natural colours.