Spring day trip to Bempton

Gannets bonding
 

Puffin

Shot through wild flowers
 

Gathering nesting material
 

Razorbill
 

Love the tone on this Gannets crown

 

Barn Owl
 

Barn Owl
 

Just a few of the 11,00 pairs of Gannet

Puffin

Kittiwake

Kittiwake

Take off time

Corn Bunting

With this cold & wet weather system set to continue I had to make the most of any breaks so on Wednesday I woke up early and headed to Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire. With no chance to get out to the Farnes this year, Bempton is the next best thing. The jouney from the midlands is around 3 hours 20 mins however I shaved 15 minutes off that with a clear run from a 4.45am depature. The staff at Bempton hadn't arrived at the centre when I got there. 

The Tree Sparrows were chirping away as I passed the visitor centre and headed down towards the cliffs when there in front of me was the local Barn Owl hunting and not taking any notice of a small audience stood in admiration of the birds flying skills. Both Corn Buntings & Tree Sparrows were singing from fence post on the edge of the same field. 

The cliffs were fulls of birds nesting and protecting their territories for another busy season. Bempton is a place you really appreciate what is in front of you, just full of life in every direction. I won't list the species observed as all were very much as expected. I did have a walk around Flamborough but couldn't add anything to what I'd seen at Bempton but I did help a few people see their first ever Puffins.

 

Kittiwake & slow going

                                           Kittiwake(3rd site record)

                                     Nice comparison with Gadwall

                                                    Pergerine

                                            Now thats a look.......

                                                   Meadow Pipit

                                                   Young lambs

                                      Trouble makers are back again

                                                      Kittiwake

                                                     Roe Deer

                                                    Cormorant flock

We all seemed to be on tenderhooks for March to arrive and yet when it did there are actually very few changes. This is the first blog for three weeks as there has been nothing to blog about except a couple of changes this week. 

The pits have had plenty of visits by a number of the team yet the sightings have been limited. Here are the best of the sightings (date in brackets when first seen)

Little Ringed Plover (17/3), 1 Kittiwake (17/3), Ring-necked Parakeet FIRST SITE RECORD (16/3),  2 Brambling, 7 Little Grebe, 20 Cormorant, 7 Mute Swan, 16 Canada Goose, 5 Greylag, 1 Shelduck (not settled), 8 Gadwall, 9 Teal, 180 Mallard, 16 Shoveler, 5 Pochard, 95 Tufted Duck, 1 Goosander, 2 Red Kite, 2 Sparrowhark, 1 Peregrine, 2 Green & GS Woodpecker, 4 Lapwing, 1 Snipe, 40 Meadow Pipit, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Cettis Warbler, 2 Raven, 20 LBB Gull, 5 singing Chiffchaff, 1 Blackcap (19/3), 1 Barn Owl, 1 Tawny Owl, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Sand Martin (11/3)  still plenty of Chaffinch & Linnet but the Fieldfare & Redwing flocks have reduced to just a handful.

Hopefully the migration tap will be turned on very soon and we will get the migrants floodng through. The year list now stands at 89 for year.

Tour de Yorkshire at Bempton Cliffs

Razorbill

Gannet

Scarborough

Sir Bradley Wiggins

Team Sky over the climb

Cliff face at Bempton

Gannets collecting nest material

No room at the inn

Room for two

Touchdown

Bempton Cliffs

Puffin

Spot the Peregrine

Visitor Centre

I've always wanted to visit the Gannet colony at Bempton so it was great to visit on the day before the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire was taking place. The staff on reception were very helpful and quickly dealing with the many visitors arriving to enjoy the sea birds.

From the first view point I quickly picked up big numbers of Fulmar, Kittiwake, Guillemots and Razorbills. The wind was very powerful which made digiscoping very difficult however I did take the SLT camera also to allow me to get some shots of the Gannets.

The Puffins were harder find, whilst a few were on the cliffs most of them were sitting on the sea. This was not the case with the Gannets as there were thousands on the cliffs and in the air allowing some fantastic views. The population is thought to be approx. 12,000 however I didn't fancy counting them. It was great to sit on the cliff tops and watch the birds very closely. Many were landing right in front of me picking grass for nesting material.

Whilst watching the Gannets I picked up a Peregrine sat up high in the cliff face. Can you see him ?

The visitor centre had a nice touristy shop, coffee shop, toilets and live cameras showing the nesting birds. Well worth a visit if you are heading that way.

Sea Duck galore - Day 4

Kittiwakes 

Possible Baltic Gull

Surf Scoter

Surf Scoter among Velvets/Common flock

Slavonian Grebes

Part of Eider flock

Purple Sandpiper and Knot

Purple Sandpiper & Turnstone

Another fantastic café stop

Sea watching out on to the bay

At the close of the previous day I'd had a quick check on Rare Bird Alert to see if anything else was reported locally and I almost fell off my chair when I saw a King Eider and Surf Scoter had been spotted ! Alan, as always, was already planning the journey so I didn’t need any second alarm call to get me up and ready the following morning.

Sea watching can be a lot of fun but you do need to expect to get wet and only have distant views. However neither of these two applied to this Highland experience. As soon as we arrived in Burghead we were treated to some fantastic views of Long-tailed Duck, Eiders and Scoter. There was also a huge flock of Kittiwakes with a possible candidate for a Baltic Gull. A flock of Knot also swooped through and landed on the beach.  To be able to watch a flock of mainly male Long-tailed Ducks fly past in off the sea was brilliant.

We couldn’t locate either of our target birds so we drove a couple of miles to a sheltered woodland spot which looked straight on to the calm water of the bay allowing simply amazing views of the various sea ducks. This spot allowed us to look at these sea ducks in detail I’d not seen before and we quickly picked up a flock of Velvet and Common Scoters. On the edge of the group was a fantastic looking Surf Scoter ! Get in ! Just brilliant to see one of these birds but to see it so clearly was a very special treat. Alan said in all his years birding he had never seen one so close. Peter then located the Immature King Eider on the other side of the flock. Being an immature bird he wasn’t as eye-catching as you would expect looking at the Collins guide but a great bird to see all the same. Numerous Slavonian Grebes were on view allowing once again lifetime best views.

After a superb session we headed back into Burghead to watch from the other side of the harbour. As soon as we were off the mini-bus we found a Purple Sandpiper, 2 Knot and numerous Turnstones. Off shore hundreds of Gannets passed by with a Pomarine Skua.

Needless to say it was then another superb lunch stop in another of Ruth’s hidden gem cafes. A top class morning.