There's a total solar eclipse due to take place next week, 29th March. Sadly, the UK will only see about 25% obscuration at best. Brazil, Turkey and East Africa are apparently the best places to be. With luck, the weather will be clear and we'll get some decent photos, if nothing else.

Having recently been to Morecambe Bay, I can see how those Chinese immigrants picking cockles would have been terrified as the water came rushing in. It's such a vast, arcing sweep of sand and mud that it's really disorientating. Apparently the tide comes in across those sandbanks quicker than a horse can gallop. They wouldn't have stood a chance.