Saturday’s trip out with camera was to RSPB Bempton Cliffs. Looking back through my photos shows that I have been there twice before. The first visit was on 31 May 2015 and the second on 6 June 2019.
There are several spectacles to be seen at Bempton Cliffs and I have separated them into the topics so the photos are not in chronological order.
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Gannet
The Gannet is quite a spectacular bird. A lot of them are in pairs which they do for life. When one of them comes back to the nest, and also at intervals, they brush their heads together and tap beaks, sometimes stretching their neck upwards.
A lot of them were pulling at the areas of grass to get nesting material that they then flew off with. They then have to find their nest amongst the thousands of others.
Apparently seabirds can survive Bird-Flu. I didn’t spot one with fully black eyes, a black eye means that it has survived Bird-Flu, but some of the Gannets had black patterning to the iris. I have not read anything about what that means – has it currently got Bird-Flu, or was it a mild case of Bird-Flu, or….?
I only spotted a couple of Gannet that still had black on some of their tail featherd and/or secondary wing feathers showing that they were in their 3rd or 4th year. More younger birds will turn up later in the Spring/Summer.
Puffin
Puffins are cute but I think the feather shading around their eyes makes them look sad. I did try to get my eye in for recognising them as Puffins as they were flying in. Their size and the whites of their cheeks helped. When flying you can see the white of their cheeks in front of the leading edge of their wings. Guillemots tended to look more brown, Razorbill appeared similar colouring to Puffins but lacked the white cheeks. Puffins had a faster wing beat too. These tips were thanks to the very helpful staff at RSPB Bempton Cliffs. RSPB staff and volunteers that I have met have always been good but the ones I spoke to on this visit seemed to have an extra sparkle.
The Puffin with the Rock Dove is giving the Dove a serious look. Come any closer and this pretty beak will bite your head off.
I assume the calling Puffin is trying to let its mate know where to head for.
I did see two Puffin on the water swimming around each other looking friendly. Then all of a sudden they erupted, looking as though they wanted to kill each other, disappearing under water and finally coming to the surface with some distance between each other. They then drifted/paddled towards each other again.
Guillemot
A Guillemot was the only bird I saw with an egg, and what a massive egg when compared to the size of the bird. The bird was carefully turning the egg. I also spotted a broken (predated) eggshell near the path
Though a lot of Guilemots were on the cliffs there were still a lot on the rocks below and on the water.
Razorbill
Several Razorbill seemed to be in pairs but the were a lot that weren’t I guess they are still waiting for their partners to turn up.
With the flying Razorbill you can clearly see that there is no white cheek in front of the wings – a simple help with the ID of Razorbill vs Puffin.
Kittiwake
Kittiwake are a elegant, and it looks as though they know it.
Lots of Kittiwake were on the cliffs but loads were out flying or on the water.
Other Birds
When walking towards the visitor centre the first bird spotted was a Tree Sparrow. Quite a few were around, some using the nest boxes.
I went by the visitor centre three times. Once on the way in before turning left to go North along the coast, once on the way back to head South along the coast and then the last time. Near the visitor centre is also where I saw the Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Reed Bunting and Chaffinch.
The Linnet, Rock Doves, Fulmar and Herring (??) Gull were seen when out on the coast paths. I’m going with Herring Gull because of the beak and then the light grey of its back to tell it from a Lesser Black-backed Gull.
Where the path heading South was on the edge of the farmer’s fields there were quite a few Skylark singing high in the sky. It is a fun challenge to spend some time trying to find the small dot fluttering away as it sings.
Views
From the coast path, looking North across the bay, the impressive lines of the buildings of Filey were clearly visible. Several times Jet Skis could be seen racing along the coast. To be proper I should call them personal watercraft, but I think everyone knows them as Jet Skis, which is actually the brand name of those made by Kawasaki.
A sailboat looked relaxing as it went through the flat sea.
The Yorkshire Belle was spotted, with quite a few on board, several of them with cameras with long lenses.
The EPS PCTC is an Eastern Pacific Shipping Dual-fuel Pure Car and Truck Carrier. On the side it also says LNG = Liquefied natural gas and has a symbol representing electric power. On the original photo I can just make out the the name starts with LAKE and the length of the second name would fit with it being LAKE HERMAN, a ship that is designed to carry 7,000 cars.
Later in the year the field might better qualify for the Telegraph and Argus current camera club topic of leading lines when the green has grown a bit more.
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