Narum Noctis: The Milky Way Over Littlehampton

West Beach in Littlehampton might not be the first location that comes to mind for Milky Way photography, but this West Sussex coastline offers something special—relatively dark skies, unobstructed southern views over the English Channel, and these beautiful wooden boardwalks that wind through the sand dunes creating perfect leading lines for composition. I'd been scouting this location for months, and when the forecast showed clear July skies and new moon darkness, I knew it was time.

Arriving at West Beach well before astronomical twilight ended, I watched the last colours fade from the western horizon as the stars began to emerge. The beach was completely deserted—just me, the gentle sound of small waves on the shore, and the anticipation of what the sky would reveal. The boardwalk, weathered by years of coastal weather and countless footsteps, wound through the dunes toward the shoreline, creating this natural pathway that draws your eye from foreground to horizon and then up into the cosmos.

As darkness deepened, the Milky Way emerged in stunning clarity above the English Channel. The galactic core—that dense concentration of stars at the heart of our galaxy—rose magnificently over the sea, its rich bands of cosmic dust and star clouds stretching high into the night sky. The scene had this incredible tranquility—no wind, no crashing waves, just absolute stillness beneath an endless celestial expanse. The deep blues of the sky contrasted beautifully with the warmer golds and magentas of the galactic core.

I shot this carefully as a blend: foreground exposures to capture the boardwalk, dunes, and that subtle beach texture, then a 120-second tracked exposure across 16 stacked frames to reveal every detail in the Milky Way—the star clusters, the dark nebulae, the sheer density of our galaxy's core. Littlehampton's West Beach proved itself as an exceptional dark sky location along the West Sussex coast.

When you look at this photograph, I want you to feel that invitation to journey—to follow the boardwalk through the dunes at West Beach, stepping toward the infinite expanse of the Milky Way rising above the English Channel on this perfect Littlehampton summer night.