04/07/2020 RSPB Bempton Cliffs, Flamborough

Weasel: A superstar and grippingly good black-browed albatross turned up on the East Yorkshire coast. on Thursday at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, near Flamborough.

Well to say I was excited would have been an understatement to have the chance to see one of the best birds I just had to give it a go. So thanks for my boss Howard Fern who gave me to green light to go (I owe you one mate) I headed up Friday morning.

The bird had been seen fisrt thing before flying off, and appeared again around 11:30 am, but the lucks was conspiring against me as by the time the bird came back I was still 20 minutes away.

By the time I arrived the bird had gone, I waited all day but it never made an appearance and I even went back the following morning and again bird decided not to show up, it had gone, this was a mega dip!

I'm pretty wounded by this in all honesty, a txt off the right people or if I was more prepared in the morning I might have made it in time.

Still, and it was hard to get my head out of the depressive fog there was a nice supporting cast to keep me occupied between long bouts of waiting around for the albatross to turn up.

This family of weasels were the highlight, watching them chasing each other and avoiding the corvids as they weaseled in and out of their burrows on the cliff edge was joy to witness. 

Puffin: Bempton is always a good play to see puffins,  these charismatic little birds were nesting right beside the main watchpoint that the albatross was last seen and were many folk congregated in anticipation but ultimately despondency. 

Gannet: The one thing these large twitchers enable me to do is to catch up with some cracking birders and local folk, at one point it felt more like a social then a twitch. Although the social distancing left a lot to be desired, I guess it would be hard at such a place anyway.

Long-eared Owl: The birding highlight was this LEO,  that has been frequenting the ares for a few weeks now it wasnt here on the Friday but was kind enough to come out on the Saturday.

Great Skua: Another highlight was this great skua that spent much of its time on the hunt and we even witness it catch a kittiwake, kill it and eat it on the sea.

It's going to take some time to get over this one, sure you have to be in it to win it, you have to make the effort when you can.

Gannet: I think there are a lot of lessons to be learnt, in time for the next mega bird!

25/05/2019 Bempton Cliffs RSPB, East Yorkshire

Gannet: I'm almost ashamed to say that I have never been to Bempton Cliffs before. I've spent a lot of time on the East Yorkshire cost, especially Spurn but never been across to the cliffs.

Lets start with my first thoughts as we walked down to the cliffs form the visitor centre and coffee shop.


The sights of distant gannet, the sounds of calling kittiwakes and the smells of fishy bird poo!

Words like mesmerising, breath-taking, amazing, awesome all spring to mind.
This is the only gannetry in England and is growing annually.









Simply brilliant, not just the shear numbers and sights of a massive sea bird colony going about their daily business but just how close some of these bird get is brilliant.

Razorbill: With over three miles of sheer cliffs, rising to 400 feet Bempton is the best place in England to see breeding seabirds (over 200,000).

Five viewing points give spectacular close-up views of puffins, gannets, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes and fulmars.

Razorbills are actually the closest living relative to the Great Auk, which is now extinct.

Kittiwake: Hanging on the wind like a puppet on strings watching the kittiwkaes float of the breeze was great.

They were also actively taking mud from the top of the cliffs, they use this mud in their nest building. 

Thir nest, which is typically placed on a narrow ledge, is a compact structure made of seaweed, mud and some grass.

Fulmar:

Puffin: After a searching the cliffs from all five view points we finally manged to see a puffin that was close on the cliffs.

We spotted dozens on the after and flying up on to the cliffs but never in view perched upon them.

I was really keen to show Dawn the puffins,  she wasn't getting very excited over the kittiwakes or the fulmars but puffins are a bird most people swoon over.

 Guillemot: Guillemots were by far the most nemous bird on the ciffs, they choose breeding sites on long narrow ledges, usually on sheer cliffs, and will squeeze as many bird as possible onto each ledge, with nesting pairs often in bodily contact with one another.

They find strength in numbers and hope that this strategy will prevent predatory birds with larger wing spans from being able to land.

Gannet: Apart from the birds the sights of the weather beaten, eroded cliffs, the wild flowers and coves were another sight to behold.

Barn Owl: Another treat and an unexpected treat was a day time hunting barn owl over the fields adjacent to the cliffs.

Highly recommended, I loved this place and will be sure to make another visit next year.

03/07/2013 Coquet Island, Northumberland Coast

Guillemot: (bridled variety) The second ferry across to Coquet from Amble was just as fun as the first without the excitement of seeing the Bridled Tern but with new excitement of seeing the Roseate Tern which breed on the island.

Guillemot: (normal variety) It was nice to see both types of Guillemot on this crossing, we also spotted several rose terns on and around the island.







Sandwich Tern: Although I didn't manage to get a decent shot of the rose terns I did get a few of the larger sand terns which were dotted within the arctic.

Puffin:  Puffin are always nice to see but I gutted I never got a good shot of the Roseate Tern as Coquet is famous for being the largest breeding site of Roseate Terns and is home to 98% of the UK population.

Grey Seal: The puffin cruise we took was really good and Dave who operated the trips is a really nice guy.

If you are ever in the area you must go see the Roseate Tens, Seals, Puffins and the whole lot more the island has to offer.

http://www.puffincruises.co.uk/