Kew timelapse: A year on film

By Pia Harold
BBC News

Kew's historic Pagoda is nearly 50 metres high

A timelapse camera set up to capture the changing climate has been returning some spectacular images of Kew Gardens.

It is being used to mark what the UK Met Office has predicted would be the hottest year since records began in 1850.

Fixed on the fourth floor of Kew's Pagoda, the camera takes a digital image of the same spot every five minutes. The pictures are then pasted together to form a short video.

Highlights of the project so far have included two bouts of snow and one occasion when the Moon was seen to sweep across the horizon in fast motion.

Here is what the year has looked like so far:

JANUARY 2007: KIT AND CABOODLE

Alan often visits the Pagoda to test the equipment

The editor of the Ten O'Clock News thought up the idea of a timelapse as a way to record the weather.

"It was over the Christmas holidays and there was a great rush to get it sorted in time," Craig Oliver said.

"It doesn't prove that there is global warming, but it's a useful device."

Location engineer Alan Murdey worked out what equipment was needed and rigged it up by late January.

FEBRUARY 2007: SNOW WORRIES

Snow in February, as seen from the Pagoda

The set-up has only failed a couple of times - and one of those times was when the snow came down.

"We recovered it that day and got the snow melting away, but it was a real disappointment," said Mr Murdey.

He thought it could have failed because of power outages - although he had set up a back-up supply which was meant to kick in if there was a cut.

MARCH 2007: FOLIAGE FOOTAGE

The camera is suspended on the fourth floor

Kew's historic Pagoda was chosen for various reasons.

"It was an indoor location, and it offered us light," Mr Murdey said.

"The shot had a range of foliage in it. We had deciduous trees and quite nice blossom in the spring time."

The Pagoda is closed to the public, meaning the camera could not be jogged.

APRIL 2007: HOTTEST ON RECORD

Children playing on Folkestone beach in April

By April, there were signs the Met Office's predictions might come true.

City-dwellers enjoyed the sunshine, basking in parks.

And while children played in the surf, gardeners missed the rain.

The average temperature was 10.2C (50.4F), beating the previous April high of 9.2C (48.6F), recorded in 1943.

MAY 2007: CATS AND DOGS

Rain on the window clouds the bigger picture

Hopes of an early summer were dashed when temperatures dropped in May.

Heavy rain at the end of the month had many reaching for their umberallas.

Winter woollies and raincoats were brought back out of the cupboards, and the Brits straightened their stiff upper lips again.