Another partial solar eclipse is on the way in the UK: August 12, 2026 solar eclipse – UK guide | BBC Sky at Night Magazine

For the Midlands expect the eclipse to occur from 6:15-8:05 PM, with the largest eclipse around 7:11 pm. But to view this safely, requires eclipse glasses (likely now sold out), or a pinhole camera. Luckily you can build the latter quite easily with some tape, a cereal box and foil.

Some safety first! You should never look directly at the sun!

In fact, this pinhole camera is designed so that you should be facing away from the sun when using it. Once it is crafted, face away from the sun and look through the viewing hole. You’ll then need to move the camera around so that the pinhole you have made lines up with the sun, this will project the image of it onto the screen on the pinhole camera.

Build Instructions

1. Find a cereal box and cut a slip of white paper the size of the bottom end. Tape this white paper inside the far end of the cereal box as flat as possible. This will act as the ‘screen’ that the ‘image’ of the sun will be projected onto.
2. Cut two square holes onto the top end of the cereal box (the part that you usually open). You will be looking through one of these and attaching a foil square to the other.
3. Tape the top of the box back together so that you now have a sturdy box with two holes to work with.
4. Cut a large enough square of foil to cover one of the square holes. Attach this with tape.
5. Cover the sides of the box with more foil (the aim is to keep light out from the edges) and tape it on.
6. Use a needle or fine pen to poke a small hole into the foil square – this is the ‘pinhole’.
7. It’s now ready to use!