THE first full moon of the year has been captured in all its lunar glory hanging over the new town centre skyline.

The picture of the Wolf moon over Woking towers was taken by local photographer Richard Sheldrake.

It was shot from Papercourt Meadows, a Surrey Wildlife Trust area next to the River Wey, providing open views to the towers early on Monday morning.

“I was there from about 7am, but knew the moon would be setting around 8am, so I had plenty of time to figure out where I needed to be,” he said. “It was taken on a Nikon D850 with 500mm lens, on a tripod – and for the real techie details, a 1/200th second exposure at f8 and ISO 800.”

It was a cold morning, the thermometer down at -2C, but having shot pictures in Antarctica, Richard is no stranger to working a camera in chill temperatures.

He has lived in Woking for nearly 30 years and has been taking photographs since he was a teenager, having been inspired by his father, another keen photographer.

Richard joined Woking Photographic Society four years ago, and was made the group’s president in September.

Last year, a series of 10 images saw him awarded the first level of distinction by the Royal Photographic Society, which made him a Licentiate of the RPS.

The January full moon is called the Wolf moon by native north Americans, because of wolves howling at the moon more around this time of year due to hunger.