{"id":730189,"date":"2026-08-07T07:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T07:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/730189\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T07:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T07:34:10","slug":"bristol-balloon-fiesta-gets-started-at-ashton-court-with-first-mass-ascent-live-updates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/730189\/","title":{"rendered":"Bristol Balloon Fiesta gets started at Ashton Court with first mass ascent &#8211; live updates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Why do some of the balloons seem to be &#8216;landing in the trees&#8217;?published at 08:02 BST<\/p>\n<p>08:02 BST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-qs9kpv-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/7dd2a64a-16e3-414d-b58b-ac456bd1c286.jpg.webp.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Sarah Turnnidge<br \/>Live page reporter<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Some of the spectators this morning have noticed something unusual as the flights continue &#8211; balloons apparently dropping down directly into the trees. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But while this might look concerning, Bristol Balloon Fiesta flight director Clive Bailey explained it was simply an illusion. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Instead, the balloons are dropping down behind the tree line and into the open space near the golf course to the north of Ashton Court. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The flight path of the balloons, he explained, is also changing as the morning draws on. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;The ones that went up earlier have gone up almost due south towards Dundry, but as the sun warms the ground up the air slowly changes direction &#8211; so some of the balloons that have stayed low are just going almost in the opposite direction,&#8221; said Bailey. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;So you&#8217;ve got some going directly south, some going directly north. It&#8217;s the magic of ballooning.&#8221; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why do some of the balloons seem to be &#8216;landing in the trees&#8217;?published at 08:02 BST 08:02 BST&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-730189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}