Tonight's 'supermoon' is a once-in-eighteen-year event, what astronomers call ' 'lunar perigee'. It is when the moon gets to its nearest point to the Earth and its appearance should be about 15% bigger and 20% brighter than usual. After scattered clouds during the day, the sky cleared so that the bright moon appeared above the trees at 11.00pm.

The last supermoon occured in March 1993 just a few weeks after we moved into our Cromarty home. I remember walking outdoors onto the snow-covered ground and taking a photo of a spectacular full moon behind the stepped gable-end of the house. I no longer have the photo or a record of the date, but I strongly suspect the photo showed a supermoon!