National Trust rangers and conservation advisers have captured some incredible photographs of the sun rising and setting this week, showing the British countryside at its most colorful.
Speculating on the cause of the good sunsets, National Trust nature specialist, Matthew Oates, said: “One of the main positive features of winter in its sunsets, in this case generated by a massive area of high pressure to the east.
“If we had this weather pattern in summer it would lead to incredibly hot weather – the roads would melt and swarms of butterflies would cross the channel.”
![DEVON: Sunrise above Comberoy Farm on the Killerton Estate on Thursday evening. Credit: Alex Raeder / National Trust](https://www.royal-oak.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/13.jpg)
DEVON: Sunrise above Comberoy Farm on the Killerton Estate on Thursday evening. Credit: Alex Raeder / National Trust
![DERBYSHIRE: Sun rises through the mist at Hardwick Hall, near Chesterfield earlier today. Credit: Joanne Rawson / National Trust](https://www.royal-oak.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/22.jpg)
DERBYSHIRE: Sun rises through the mist at Hardwick Hall, near Chesterfield earlier today. Credit: Joanne Rawson / National Trust
![SUFFOLK: A fiery sunset burns above Sutton Hoo. Credit: @NT_SuttonHoo / National Trust](https://www.royal-oak.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/32.jpg)
LINCOLNSHIRE: Dawn turns the skies above Gunby Hall a deep purple. Credit: David Dales / National Trust
![GLOUCESTERSHIRE: Perfect blue skies above a misty Dyrham Park, near Bath, yesterday. Credit: @NTDyrhamPark / National Trust](https://www.royal-oak.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/41.jpg)
GLOUCESTERSHIRE: Perfect blue skies above a misty Dyrham Park, near Bath, yesterday. Credit: @NTDyrhamPark / National Trust