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Wandering around looking for clouds and puddles
Colour My Valley Autumn
One of my favourite places to photograph in autumn, luckily, is just on the doorstep. Exmoor rises 1000 feet out of the sea on the North Devon coast and takes the brunt of the Atlantic weather but the area is interlaced with hidden valleys where the trees are more sheltered and the leaves hang on […]
2026 Calendar Now Available
September 30, 2025
It’s here: the 2026 Beautiful North Devon Calendar! The 12th edition features 13 fresh shots taken in the prevoius year in and around Exmoor, Lundy and the beaches of North Devon. Thank you to Kathleen Spears who helped with the agonising decisions to whittle down 30-odd candidates to the final selection, and to the friends […]
Lords of the Boards 2025
August 21, 2025
Boardmasters Surf 2025 was one of my most favouriteists yet and it’s not just for personal reasons, such as working with an outstanding team (as always), but what helped was; the wall to wall sunshine, consistent north Cornwall summer surf that produced – everyday, and an old school vibe back into the ‘surf fans village’ […]
Fleeting flight of the Auks
July 9, 2025
Photographing Puffins in flight can be frustrating; the birds are small and fast, making framing difficult. They flap their wings that are more suited to ‘swimming’ underwater – faster than flying, at up to 400 times a minute – not as fast as a Hummingbird granted, but still requiring a fast shutter speed to freeze […]
Hot Hanmers
July 8, 2025
Lundy time: Joon 2025. We were gutted to hear that our week’s stay in Tibbetts was cancelled due to problems with the new waterpump installation (Tibbetts has its own Well and the quaint but outdated battery waterpump was being upgraded). Instead we were offered Hanmers, a corrugated iron and timber hut built in 1898 by […]
Intimate Exmoor
June 7, 2025
In the summertime, when the weather is fineYou can stretch right up and touch the skyWhen the weather’s fineYou got camping, you got camping on your mind.Have a drink, have a driveGo out and see what you can find. However camping is dangerous. The ground is uneven, the night skies are dark and there are […]
Posted in: Beauty in the familiar, Exmoor
Purple and Lime colours on top
May 24, 2025
Maytime is when Exmoor comes to life, the beech trees and hedges start to show their fabulously fresh, almost florescent lime-green foliage. This year the wow factor has been amplified by the prolonged dry spell (don’t look up), and some fabulous blue skies. The light winds helped the blossom to set and for the next […]
Posted in: Exmoor
Puffins in the Pinks
May 19, 2025
Once more to Lundy Island, this time on a day trip from Bideford. It is an early start to coincide with the high tide, but the bonus is that you get extra hours on the island as the return journey has to align with the next high tide so that the boat can navigate the […]
Highland Capers
May 12, 2025
Easter was late this year and those few extra weeks make such a difference to the weather as winter slips into spring. Especially in the highlands of Scotland, with the snow all but gone the landscape takes on a gentle and softer identity. The unassuming colour palette is full of awesome tones, and the big […]
Posted in: Scotland, Uncategorized
Rainy Day on May
May 10, 2025
The Isle of May, off the Fife coast, is a national nature reserve and home to over 100,000 puffins during the breeding season; which runs from April til June. This small island which has a tremendous variety of wildlife, renowned for its rich bird life, seals and reefs, also has an interesting religious and maritime […]
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Copyright © Ester Spears
November 4, 2025
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