Photographing the milky way on Wembury Beach

Two nights on Wembury Beach chasing the Milky Way… One night crystal clear, one night a cloud‑soaked betrayal. Tracked shots, driftwood foregrounds, a meteor cameo — and plenty of tea brewed under the stars. New blog post.

Two Nights on Wembury Beach: Chasing the Milky Way Over South Devon

After the Durdle Door Debacle (which you can read about here - https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2026/05/my-second-milky-way-session-of-2026.html), I decided it was time for a confidence‑restoring mission. So, I headed back to familiar territory: Wembury Beach, South Devon, where the Milky Way would rise neatly over the Newton Ferrers headland just after midnight, like a cosmic lighthouse beam brightening the night sky.

Images from The Durdle Door Debacle

It is clear I just haven't got image collection and then post editing nailed down yet - a major work in progress! 

I gave myself two nights for Wembury Beach.
One turned out beautifully clear.
The other… well, let’s just say the clouds had other plans.

But that’s astrophotography for you — part science, part art, part cosmic roulette.

 

My Goals for Both Nights

I kept things simple and focused:

• Capture good-quality Milky Way data, both tracked and untracked
• Take midnight landscape shots with actual thought behind the composition (a personal growth area…)
• Attempt some form of Milky Way selfie
• In post-processing, balance sky and foreground exposure for a clean composite blend

Basically: redeem myself after Durdle Door and come home with something worth showing the internet.

 You can read here, how I plan a milky way imaging session: https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/02/beginners-guide-to-taking-your-first.html  and https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/02/beginners-guide-to-taking-your-first_19.html

Night One: Clear Skies and Cosmic Calm

The Milky Way would be at its best between 01:00 and 02:30, with high tide at 00:30 — a detail worth checking unless you enjoy wet feet and expensive equipment baptisms.

I rolled into the National Trust car park around 23:45, and by midnight I was on the beach, headtorch glowing and arcing about like a confused firefly. Thanks to a daytime recce, I already had two compositions in mind:

1. Sitting on a log with the Mill House and Milky Way behind
2. A wider shot of beach, driftwood, and Mill House under the rising core

Conditions were a dream:
Clear skies, 8°C, barely a whisper of wind. The sea behaved itself. No spray. No drama. Just the quiet hush of the tide and the occasional owl wondering what on earth I was doing.

Shooting Workflow

I worked through a structured sequence:

• Tracked portrait frames
• Untracked portrait frames
• Switch to landscape orientation
• Repeat: tracked → untracked

Camera Settings

• Untracked: ISO 1600, 20 seconds × 20 frames, f/2.8
• Tracked: ISO 1600, 80 seconds × 20 frames, f/2.8

Gear List (for the fellow kit nerds)

• Canon 800D (astromodded)
• Samyang 14mm f/2.8
• Aoelean wireless intervalometer
• Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i (WiFi)
• William Optics wedge
• Benbo Mach 3 carbon fibre tripod
• USB power bank
• Sky-Watcher right‑angled polar viewer
• MSM green laser with SWSA2i attachment
• Gorillapod 3kg ball head
• Petzl headtorch (with red mode, obviously)

Between sequences, I brewed tea on my Primus Lite Jetboil stove — its soft hiss and occasional roar felt oddly comforting. I prefer a stove to a flask; it reminds me of my mountaineering days and my more recent dinghy‑cruising adventures (which you can find on my YouTube channel: ).

There’s something grounding about making tea under the stars.  

 

I haven't quite got the brightness sorted - both images are a little dark.

Tonally, the blues and magentas are a little strong in the sky. 

Night Two: The Great Cloud Betrayal

Five weather apps promised clear skies.
Five.

Naturally, the moment I arrived, the sky filled with thin, high cirrus — the kind that looks innocent until you realise it’s basically a giant cosmic diffuser.

We had 80% cloud cover for the entire session. I stayed, of course. Hope springs eternal in the heart of an astrophotographer.

The only consolation?
One frame — just one — caught a meteor streaking through the murk. A tiny victory, but I’ll take it.

Some nights are like that. The sky gives you a polite “no” and you pack up, slightly cold, slightly grumpy, but still weirdly satisfied.

 

Processing the Milky Way Images

Back home, everything went into Affinity Photo’s AstroStack.
After stacking, I moved through:

• Develop Persona for initial corrections
• Photo Persona for the heavier lifting

If you’re curious about how I edit my Milky Way images, I’ve written about my workflow here:

https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2025/12/editing-tutorial-guide-to-how-i-post.html

 https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2026/05/some-sessions-give-you-diamonds-others.html

I am in the process of updating my work flow and when I have finished it - I will post a summary here as an update - giver me a couple of weeks. 

Final Thoughts

Two nights on Wembury Beach reminded me why I keep coming back to this coastline. Even when the clouds misbehave, even when the apps lie, even when the universe throws curveballs — there’s still magic in the process.

Clear skies aren’t guaranteed.
Good data isn’t guaranteed.
But the experience? Always worth it.

And when the Milky Way finally arcs over the headland, bright and delicate like spilled sugar across black velvet — well, that’s the moment that keeps you coming back.