Originally Posted by
SpringHeeledJack
There's been a few Hercs, both 'visible' and non today, there must be something on ;-)
Whilst looking upwards for the last one I spotted a large-ish red/orange blob, possibly tapering to the lower side. Amazingly i had a pair of binoculars to hand and for a short moment watched it as it passed overhead roughly in lockstep with the broken cloud around it. I'd like to think it was a balloon of some sort, possibly a weather/research type, my viewing angle was almost underneath so little perspective. As they don't show up on trackers, how does one find out ? Wind is coming from the North and this was over London at 14.00 local today.
SHJ, weathersondes don't show up on aircraft trackers as they do not carry the relevant electronic gizmos. However, check out
https://radiosondy.info/index.php? and zoom-in to your area of interest. if there's a sonde in the air then it will show, and the track will show which way it is heading.
FWIW there are 'weekday' daily launches from Larkhill on Salisbury Plain at about 6am and again at about 10am. Further afield, there are daily launches from west Wales, Watnall (just N of Nottingham), Camborne in Cornwall, one from up near Newcastle and one from NI. There are other infrequent launches from Shoeburyness and Cardington, and Herstmonceaux in Sussex. All these different sites launch at different times, so there is an element of pot-luck involved. Ask if you need more info.