On 12 August 2026, hundreds of people gathered at beaches, parks and viewpoints across Kent, Surrey and Sussex to watch a partial solar eclipse, with the Moon obscuring roughly 90% of the Sun's disc over southern England. Onlookers used protective glasses and improvised household items to view the spectacle safely, attending organised parties, picnics, workshops and talks held to mark the rare event.
Large numbers assembled along the coast near Goring-by-Sea, while other crowds climbed the South Downs and queued in cars near Beachy Head to get an unobstructed view of the sky.
Near Goring-by-Sea, queues formed as people sought eclipse glasses to watch the Moon's progress across the Sun.
Elsewhere on the South Downs, Glenda Whiles and David Hearn were among those who turned to an unconventional viewing method, using a kitchen colander to project the eclipse safely.
The colander technique was far from unique, as ordinary household objects were pressed into service by eclipse watchers wanting a safe way to observe the event without staring directly at the Sun.
In Great Bookham, Surrey, residents adopted the same approach, holding up colanders to cast pinhole-style projections of the eclipse onto the ground or nearby surfaces.
Meanwhile, on Tunbridge Wells Common, many attendees opted for solar viewing glasses as they gathered to watch the phenomenon unfold overhead.
Was this actually a total eclipse somewhere?
Yes — although the South East saw only a partial eclipse, the event was in fact a total solar eclipse along a narrow path that swept across Greenland, Iceland, northern Spain and part of Portugal, according to
This article was sourced from bbc
