Psilos Bird Journal
Monday 17th April 2006
     
"Seabird city "
 
Gannet
 
Bank holiday Monday and a very early rise to avoid heavy traffic found us at Bempton Cliffs near Bridlington just after 9am.Bempton Cliffs are part of a RSPB reserve on the east coast. Made of chalk the cliffs stand at over 400 feet high and are home to thousands of seabirds including puffins, gannets, razorbills, guillemots and fulmars. Despite strong winds the forecast was good and so with high spirits we set off into the reserve.
     
Brambling male
     
Since my last visit two years ago they had installed a new feeding station for small birds. Despite there being very few trees around it attracted a large number of tree sparrow, yellowhammer, reed bunting, chaffinch, blue tit, great tit, wren, jackdaws and a single male brambling. That was certainly a bird I hadnt been expecting to see that day.
     
Fulmar
     
At Bempton you approach the cliffs from the top and look down on the seabirds below. Despite having visited this site several times I am always awestruck with the scene below me. Thousands pf seabirds on every level going about their business. To my inexperienced eyes the cliffs look pretty full but apparently overnight many of the birds have disappeared out to sea and not come back in so there are many yet to come in.
Puffin
One bird that alot of people come to see is the Puffin and with this bird we were extremely lucky. As we looked over the edge for the first time a pair of puffins were one of the first birds we saw. Stood near the top of the cliff they were checking out a hole in the cliff face. Puffins nest in burrows in the ground but a hole in the cliff face will do just as well. After a short while these birds flew off and that was the last time we saw puffins at close range that day.
Razorbill
The numbers of Razorbill was something that also surprised me. The last time I visited I only saw one but today there are many. The guillemots that were everywhere last time were largely missing and I was disappointed that I didnt get any decent shots of them. The Razorbill was a very difficult bird to photograph as catching the eye from the distance I was shooting at proved very difficult and I didnt really manage it very well.

Mating and nest building was very much the order of the day. Unlike small perching birds seabirds seem to mate for a long time. I watched a pair of fulmars mate for five minutes and all were very noisy.

Gannets
Naturally the gannets were amongst the most impressive birds seen that day and by and large the most exciting to photograph. The wind was in our favour today as it slowed down their flight and some came so close at eye level that my lens couldnt focus on them. Watching them fly past at full speed was very thrilling, such a magical bird.
 
 
Like many of the birds here the Gannets nest on some very precarious ledges. The one shown above is actually quite roomy but with some you can see no proper ledge and wonder how on earth the chicks manage to stay on them.