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This stunning photograph gives a new meaning to the term 'heat wave' as it appears to show the sea on fire.

Amateur photographer Peter Staddon was amazed after he captured the top of a breaking wave seemingly ablaze with a long, bright orange glow coming off it.

In fact the 'once if a lifetime' moment was something of a natural phenomenon, with the low sunset hitting the spray of the rolling wave at just the right moment.

Peter, 64, said he was incredibly lucky to capture the amazing shot while he was stood on cliffs on the west side of the Isle of Portland in Dorset.

Peter, a sawyer at a quarry, said he was hoping to take some night shots of the sunset when he inadvertently caught the 'heat wave'.

(Image: Peter Staddon / BNPS)

He said: "I was positioned on a cliff about 300ft above Hallelujah Bay on Portland taking some photos. There was a bit of a sea swell so I got some shots of the waves that were about 6ft high.

"I didn't realise I had got that picture until after I got home and put the memory card in my laptop.

"I noticed a couple of images with this orange glow across them and it looked like the whole wave was on fire.

"I then realised that it must have been the sun laying a trail across the sea and as the wave was breaking, the spray came up off it and the sun caught it.

"I was just at the right angle at the right moment. It was a once in a lifetime shot. I have never seen anything like it before. I am over the moon with it."