A Spring Morning on Dartmoor

As you’ll have guessed by the heading, this blog is a retrospective post, but it’s still a story worth sharing.

Every season on Dartmoor brings something special but the season of spring can be one of the most vibrant and noisy! Spring is also an opportunity to photograph one of Dartmoor’s most unique tors, Bowerman’s Nose, at sunrise. It’s only around springtime that the light from the rising sun isn’t blocked by a hill to east.

There is a downside though. Sunrise is at 5:30am! I don’t mind an early start, but a 5:30am sunrise is normally a 4am alarm call (at the latest!). However, if you can get past the early start, being up on Dartmoor National Park at that time day can be magical.

**Bowerman’s Nose #1, Dartmoor National Park, Devon** - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 20mm, f/13, 1/6 sec at ISO 64.

Tranquility on Dartmoor

I can only describe that morning up on the eastern edge of Dartmoor as tranquil. As I sat on a small rocky outcrop looking down on the valley below, all I could see was a sea of fog. There was so much of it that I found it difficult to pick out places that I knew! As the sun hadn’t risen yet there was no light on the landscape, so I just decided to sit there and take in the view. (Check out my Instagram post to see a video of what I saw).

As if the visual delights weren’t enough, I was also surrounded by a chorus of bird song. I’m not sure how many birds there were, but given the levels of sound, I thought every bird on Dartmoor was at the same spot I was. The noise was almost overpowering, but it also came with a sense of tranquillity.

It’s not often I get a sense of inner peace at 5am, but as I sat there on my rocky outcrop watching the fog flow through the valley below, listening to a thousand birds sing, I truly felt like I was in the best place in the world and that I could spend all morning there. As it turned out, thThe photographs I captured that morning of Bowerman’s Nose were just a bonus and not the main event.

If only all mornings on Dartmoor were like that one.