Apologies for late report of attending Bempton Cliffs on Tuesday 28 Apr and Thurs 30 April. This was our first visit to this area for Tom Jones and I, and thoroughly enjoyable, if even more thoroughly windswept, it turned out to be. Hopeful targets of Kittiwake, Guillemot, Gannet and Razorbill were present in the tens of thousands, Puffin singles totalling perhaps 10, and Fulmar 20. Shag were seen at Flamborough Head, and Whitby and Scarborough on sight-seeing trips. Eider were also at Flamborough.
Our caravan site at Reighton provided a distant view of the northern end of the white cliffs of Bempton, and on the first day the wheeling multitude of flying birds near the cliffs were towards the southern end , but on the last day, the wheeling masses were much nearer Reighton as the "hotel" of cliffs were filling up with even more arrivals. Chatting with a volunteer at RSPB Bempton, we learned that it usually is windy there, only direction and strength vary, and that they usually have a quarter of a million birds present in the summer. He added that their first Gannet chick had been seen on Thursday 30 April. 4 lifers for Tom and I

Got here at 2pm today, but the line for a parking space was long so I went to nearby buckton, before coming back at 3:30. I went out looking for puffins, and fortunately the rspb staff have found 3 on the cliffs. I got good views of 5 more on the cliffs, but I was happy to find a raft of about 50 puffins on the sea, along with several more singles and pairs. Guillemots, gannets, kittiwakes and razorbills were all about in their thousands, and I found a few fulmars and shags mingled in. 8000 gannets 10000 guillemots 10000 kittiwakes 5000 razorbills 60-70 puffins 4 fulmar 3 shag

Arrived around 10:30am on Sunday, my first visit here. Lots of visitors, hadn't realised it was the base of Springwatch at Easter!! Or that the new visitor centre opened the day before!
Lots of Gannet, Razorbill, Guillemot, about 10 Puffin, several Fulmar, 1 Peregrine, many Kittiwake and a few Herring Gull dotted about, other birds, Tree Sparrow, many Feral Pigeon, Jackdaw, several Goldcrest, Kestrel (f) stood at the entrance to the bird box on the pole in the field, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting.

Best of all, the satnav took us through the country lanes on the way back towards York, to my surprise I saw a Barn Owl hunting the verge at 3.30pm.
Stopped the car to get the camera, only for it to go back, spotted it on the floor at the side of the road only for it to be flushed by two passing cars.
In the time it took to turn the car round it had caught a field vole and perched on some haybales at the side of the hedge eating it, needless to say the camera went into overdrive as I rolled the car alongside

Three hour visit yesterday afternoon in hot and sunny conditions. Amongst others :-

Gannet (1000s)
Puffin (c.300)
Guillemot (c.100)
Kittiwake (1000+)
Fulmar (c.20)
Rock Dove (c100)
Shag (5)
Whimbrel (29)
Peregrine (1)
Tree Sparrow (c.35)

First visit since the mid 80s, great spectacle. More Puffin than expected, darting here and there with some out on the sea. All Guillemot had left the cliffs and were on the sea. No Razorbill anywhere, having departed over the last week. Two sightings of a distant Peregrine and the Whimbrel were seen heading south. Gannet everywhere!

Ditto Johns sightings really, except fewer Puffins. If the weather had been better i could have stayed much longer than the 2hrs, but wife and kids were frozen.

Superb afternoon and early evening at Bempton- awesome place, if that was my local patch I would never go anywhere else.
Gannets-must have been over 10000
Kittiwakes-too many to even guess
Puffins-saw about 25 only
Guillimots and Razorbills in good numbers
Tree Sparrow -plenty round the visitors centre with newly fledged young
Corn Bunting
Plus brilliant views

Very late news from a visit to Bempton last Tuesday

No Puffins on the cliffs, but plenty on the sea; we saw about ten birds overall. My first ever Puffins!



Round up:


Puffin-10
Gannet- thousands
Kittiwakes- thousands
Guillemots- hundreds, though mainly on sea
Razorbill- dozens, though all on sea
Fulmar- definitely one but possibly more
Shag-8

And at the feeders and on the meadows, there were:

Yellowhammer
Corn bunting
Linnet-15
Skylark-5
Meadow pipit-5
Tree sparrow-50
Greenfinch-20
Siskin

Plus all the common garden species

Visited this a.m. weather far from ideal with wind, rain and mist but enjoyed the spectacle none the less. Many Gannets, a volunteer said there were 10,000 birds !, also Razorbill, Guillemot, Shag, Kittiwake, Fulmer, Stonechat, Tree Sparrow and at least 20 Puffin battling with the wind.
Cheers Ian

Gannets displaying
More Guillemots than Razorbills
Kittiwake Fulmar
at least 1 Puffin,
Peregrine
Skylarks
large flock of meadow pipits
Tree Sparrow
Fieldfare

-- Edited by Ian Boote on Friday 19th of April 2013 08:46:51 PM

A trip on 13/4 with little Riggers who was keen to add some seabirds to his growing list.

Loads of Gannets as expected
Guillemots/Razorbills in thier hundreds, mainly on the sea but some on the cliffs
Kittiwake 100's
Fulmar 50
Shag 3 but there are a reported 22 pairs
Tree Sparrow 30
Yellowhammer 5
Linnet 25

Red Kite, Black Redstart, Short-eared and Barn Owl all dipped!





-- Edited by Mark Rigby on Sunday 14th of April 2013 08:23:02 AM

Originally posted by Mark Battersby today:

Tremendous visit to the cliffs last Thursday (4th April). 1000's of Gannets, Kittiwakes and Fulmars are starting to (re)build their nests. The strong Easterley winds are perfect as the birds just hover effortlessly. Only a few Guillemots showing and we were told that many were out at sea, likewise the Razorbills. Skylarks showing well a sare the usual finches and Tree Sparrows. No puffins, but this may be due to recent difficulties.

Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/76345032@N04/

Also see Blacktoft sands.

Yesterday (Sunday 23rd) I decided on a trip over to the east coast as the weather seemed set fair for migrants & the previous day had been a good one, especially at Spurn. Heading over the M62 news filtered through that a lot of the goodies at Spurn had left overnight, leaving a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers. However a Red-breasted Flycatcher at Bempton sounded a better option, so I diverted off to higher up the east coast.

On arrival the flycatcher had been seen about an hour before in The Dell, so that would be first call. After two hours it was becoming probable that the bird had moved on. In the visitor centre the staff informed e of a Pied Flycatcher on the nature trail so I reckoned a search along there could be productive as the flycatchers may have 'joined' up - birds of a feather & all that!! The Pied Flycatcher was showing in the first copse, so after watching it for a short while I headed up to the second copse. Here after a short search one of our party beckoned me over & after a short wait out popped the Red-breasted Flycatcher, success at last! The bird showed well, albeit briefly several times, perching out in the open a couple of times. This is one of my favourite species & always lovely to see, smiles all round!

Also nice to see was Melanie & Simon, Manc birders on tour, well just off the Yorkshire Belle Cruise. All in all the right decision was made & a great day out was had

-- Edited by Doc Brewster on Monday 24th of September 2012 01:08:52 PM

04.07.2012, 10.00 - 18.30 with the Manx Birder, unfortunately Mr Barber could not join us today.

Given the earlier weather forecast we had a late start but we still arrived at the vistors centre to find the reserve swathed in misty, damp conditions - however we made the most of it and had a walk down to the Staple Newk viewpoint to see the main Gannet colony. We also found Shag, Rock Dove, Kittiwake, Fulmar, Razorbill, Kestrel, Guillemot and many Puffin. It seems that this has been a really good year for this local star species.

Back to the visitors centre and seeing on the walk back:- Meadow Pipit, Common Whitethroat, Skylark, Tree Sparow, Swallow, Common Swift and Peregrine falcon - the rain persisted.

After eating our lunch we decided to head to Buckton trig point. We were about two thirds of the way there when a quick phone call to the visitor centre told us we were headed in the wrong direction !!! So we scooted back to the New Rollup view point where we found what we were looking for, the Alpine Swift. It took a bit of a time to get onto because we were looking down into the bay below the view point but once we got our eyes in we had terrific views of this splendid bird.

Excellent numbers yesterday of:

Gannets
Guillemots
Razorbills
Shags
Kittiwakes

Not so excellent numbers of:

Puffins
Fulmars

Good views of the Alpine Swift which was moving up and down the path at the top of the cliffs.

Cheers

01/07/2012 - 5am-10am between Bempton and Buckton with Phil Owen and Alex Jones:

1 ALPINE SWIFT - still present, first spotted at 8.30am at Bempton before moving along to Buckton, a late riser but eventually showed well. Amazingly few people there for this rarity but the flood-gates opened once we put the news out!
1 Peregrine Falcon
2 Kestrels
3+ Barn Owls
3 Golden Plovers - flew south
1 Whimbrel - flew north-west
c30 Common Swifts
1 House Martin
6 Swallows
1 Yellow Wagtail
1 Common Whitethroat
12+ Tree Sparrows
3 Corn Buntings
2 Reed Buntings
38 Common Crossbills - flew south
plus the usual seabirds all showing well

-- Edited by Henry Cook on Sunday 1st of July 2012 08:49:13 PM

Great day out on sunny side of Pennines!
Plenty of the usual. High numbers of gannets- photographers heaven until 4GB disc full.
Parking difficult as overflow car park closed due to mud.
Other highlights of journey - Quail calling in cornfields at lay-by on left at top of Galloway Hill.
Also Red Kite junction 44 of M1.

I had a great day out at Bempton Cliffs with Leigh Ornithological Society today. I was probably the only one in the group never to have been here before and my eyes were on stalks the whole time. Never before have I seen so many seabirds so close up. I did not see so many species, but boy were they spectacular. They included all the usuals here:

Bempton Cliffs
Puffins - I only saw four or five today but I had good views
Gannets - nest-building and sitting on nests as well as doing aerobatics
Kittiwakes - glad to finally nail the ID of these and hear the call
Razorbills - got to see the fine detail of the bills
Guillemots - lovely chocolate colour
Fulmars - very pleased to see these as there were only a few about
Jackdaws - I was surprised to see them briefly hovering over the nesting Gannets
Herring Gulls - some prime examples

Car Park and Feeding Station
Jackdaws - up really close
Tree Sparrows - again, very close
Dunnock
Goldfinch
Greenfinch

There were probably a few more I didn't spot, as I was so busy taking photos of the seabirds. If you've never been, it's well worth a visit and takes around 2.5 hours from Manchester to get there. A great day out and thanks to Al Foy and other members of LOS for organising it.

Now I've got to spend the rest of the week going through 800 or so photos! The best will be on my blog and Flickr site as soon as I've edited them.

Friday 13th- 15th April.
Weekend visit to flamborough and bempton.
Finally got there after a problem with the train so arrived about 4pm.
A quick evening jaunt produced, yellowhammer, skylarks, and a hunting barn owl all near north landing.
A 5 am start produced lots of usually found birds but a cracking view of a female Lapland bunting near old fall hedge was a great start, flying up from the field to the hedge and then on towards headland calling as it went, a pair of eider at southern bay overlooked from south of the hedgerow was great too.
Highlight of the trip though aside from the spectacular gannets and other seabirds along the coast was a lifer and very unexpected a quail called very briefly from a rape seed field off lighthouse road I patiently waited by the field until it appeared ( must of been crouched) as it ran up one of the field channels and out of view! It called again distantly but I couldn't relocate even the next day! It seemed incredibly early for a quail and certainly didn't sing as much or as often as they normally do? Great weekend though

on the 8th of April:

All the seabirds have now arrived, and the skys were full of skylarks, a yellowhammer was seen around the reserve as was a peregrine

a porpoise was seen out from the cliff, as were a few Manx shearwaters (or so someone tells me)

hd the desert wheatear on 28th december, even managed a decent pic as it hopped past about 3 feet away.

a very lovely little bird

Male Desert Wheatear showed well, if distant (vertically) on and around the Gannet nests on the stack below Staple Newk at Bempton this a.m.

Also 1 Manx Shearwater & 2 Red-throated Divers among the commoner species on the sea

the turnstones and purple sands are not far off resident as is one feral barnacle goose, which accompanies the mallards in the harbour

18th September Skua and Shearwater Cruise 09.00 - 12.30

This was a great trip and I would recommend it to any bird watcher of any ability. The sightings are called out over the tannoy by the driver and his two spotters which makes it easier for IDs and almost everyone had binoculars on board, which helps.

Sightings:
3 Red Throated Divers (in different places around the bay)
60+ Guillemots
6 Razorbills
100+ Gannets including very dark juveniles
4 Common Gulls
2 Little Gulls
4 Kittiwakes
30+ Common Terns
2 Sandwich Terns
1 Adult Sabine's Gull (the first adult ever recorded and only 3 ever spotted on these cruises)
5 Common Scoters
3 Arctic Skuas (2 dark phase, 1 light phase)

Other wildlife:
3 Grey Seals
At least 15 sightings of porpoises incl. juveniles from 2 metres from the boat.

Despite the driver's best efforts and a boat full of motivated birders there were no shearwater sightings (except one unconfirmed Manx Shearwater sighting).

Inside Bridlington Harbour:

15 Turnstones
4 Purple Sandpipers
5 Redshanks
2 Rock Pipits
(all quite regular at the harbour I am told)

There are two trips left this year and they still have places.

basically, anyone making an id, calls out what they have seen, then it is announced by whomever happens to be driving the microphone, on that particular journey it was martin garner.

so yes you most definitely do.

hi jason, do you actually get identification help on that trip from brid harbour.i ask because i am actually from lancashire but visit bempton 3 times a year, regards mike

not actually at bempton but organised and booked through bempton so included here

went on the first skua cruise proper of the year yesterday, on the yorkshire belle out of bridlington harbour, price £18 and booked through bempton rspb reserve.


grey partridge sighted on the way into brid just outside ulrome

started off in brid harbour

with herring gull.
kittiwake
sandwich tern
around 20 turnstone and
3 purple sand pipers

then on to the boat and the 3 and a half hour cruise itself

gannets
kittiwakes
razorbills
puffins
guillemots
common terns
arctic terns
sandwich terns
great black backed gulls
herring gulls
all numbered in the multiple hundreds

little gulls 100+

arctic skua about 15 mostly juvenile dark phase
great skua 5 or 6
black tern 8
red throated diver 5
manx shearwater 3
sooty shearwater 1
balearic shearwater 1
sabines gull 1

also sighted about 50 harbour porpoise total and one grey seal

all in a day i would heartily recommend

first time here for me,with phil kelly. good birds ,good weather. 35 species seen.
highlight being 1000s off GANNETS + juvenilles all at such close range, awesome
PUFFINS not many,but decent views.
KITTIWAKES hundreds off +juvenilles.
GUILLEMOTS & RAZORBILLS seem to have all gone, apart from a few remaining.
FULMARS not many,the odd few about.
oystercatchers
herring gulls lots off.
tree sparrows all around car park & feeding station.
corn buntings
reed buntings
whitethroats
linnets
skylarks
meadow pipits
grey wagtails
pied wagtails
l-b-b gulls
jackdaws
magpies
crows
cormorants
wood pigeons
stock doves
feral pigeons
swallows
pheasants
house sparrows
starlings
blackbirds
dunnocks
blue tits
greenfinch
goldfinch
chaffinch

thanks again phil,had a great day again.

We had a great day at Bempton yesterday, the sight of hundred gannets in the sky was worth the trip alone. No sign or mention anywhere of the Daurian jackdaw, the gannets, razorbills,puffins, fulmars and guillemots were spectacular. Nice flock of corn buntings, also tree sparrows and whitethroat.

Altogether an excellent day out in wonderful weather.

Hi Henry

sorry for slow reply, i missed the message,


i dont have much more info im sorry, i got back to bempton at One ish after the yorkshire belle boat ride, i went into the main office and checked the latest sightings board as i always do, there was a daurian jackdaw on the sightings board that was not there when i checked this morning, i asked the staff and was told a Daurian jackdaw was spotted not less than half hour ago not far from the visitors center, i went in the same direction just past the car park on the way out and did about an hour scanning the many passing jackdaws with no joy,

wether this bird was genuine or not i wouldent like to say, i did check on the recent sightings on the RSPB site which was on the same day i was there and there is no mention of the bird, so it looks as though there is no furthur or confirmed sightings so maybe possibly a mis ID?

Best Den


if anyone goes to Bempton this weekend please ask them about last weeks Jackdaw sighting and any updates

Any more info on the Daurian Jackdaw, Dennis? This would be something of a mega if it was definitely one?!
Thanks. Henry.

great day today,

Gannets, gilliemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, fulmars, all the usual birds in good numbers, the cliifs and waters around are full, great views of all the birds and good views of puffins from the yorkshire belle too though not doing as well as everything else, lots of singing whitethroats, skylarks, 1 corn bunting on tele wires just outside carpark, rock doves, raven giving the local jackdaws a hard time,

a daurian jackdaw was reported today on board at 1.00 ish, had a good look round but couldent connect with it myself

24/04/11
scorcher again slight easterly wind

all the sea birds were working hard fighting for the best pitches to nest and the gannets were tearing chunks out of the grass at the cliff tops making great close up views for photography. Self found 4 shorelarks in ploughed up field and lots of wheatears and skylarks about .A few of the guilimot nests already being raided by the herring gulls ,a few of the broken eggs on the footpath. Another of my fav reserves and best views yet for puffins .
grasshopper warbers were showing well

Stopped off at Bempton yesterday afternoon - did the discovery trail, went to see the Gannet colonies and spent some time taking photos of Fulmars but the best bit was the Wooded Dip just next to the car park. Loads of people drove straight past but I had a very useful two hours looking at:

Willow Warblers
Garden Warbler [which I tried to turn into a Barred]
Pied Flycatcher
Spotted Flycatcher
Sparrowhawk
Feeding flocks of various tits
and an unidentified Warbler which really got me guessing until Ian put me out of my misery today - Icterine Warbler - a lifer and a very memorable bird with its blue grey legs!

Today 14.15 - 16.30, Weather overcast then rain

Bempton was our final destination today, time for the "photographer" to go into action on the Gannet colony. We were surprised by the number of Puffins present - we asked the RSPB people but they were unable to tell us how many they had this year. Also present several Rock Doves, Razorbill and Guillemot (only a few left of each species), Fulmar and Kittiwake with lots of young. The day finished on a damp note but improved by a warming cup of coffee at the visitor centre before the long trek home.

Sunday day out with the bolton rspb, a good day, we saw all the same as Brandon, Even the same barn owl came out later on and corn bunting, just a few additions, of a yellow wagtail, a passing perigrine and kestel, loads of whitethroats along the road to the reserve, also linnets, bird of the day for me was the fulmars, excellent

brandon mulhern wrote:

---

spent most of the day at Bempton, plenty to see, hear and smell!

puffin at least 8 separate birds showing well and close to the clifftop
guilimot in the hundred,
razorbill 90+,
gannet 200+, several juvenile and some still on the nest,
kittiwake by the hundreds, again most on the nest with young
fulmar several
herring gull a plenty
corn bunting
whitethroat
reed bunting
yellowhammer
tree sparrow
goldfinch
and just before we left at 8pm a barn owl hunting in the field infront of the visitor centre.

---

brandon mulhern wrote:

---

spent most of the day at Bempton, plenty to see, hear and smell!

---

Nicely summed up!

Anthony

spent most of the day at Bempton, plenty to see, hear and smell!

puffin at least 8 separate birds showing well and close to the clifftop
guilimot in the hundred,
razorbill 90+,
gannet 200+, several juvenile and some still on the nest,
kittiwake by the hundreds, again most on the nest with young
fulmar several
herring gull a plenty
corn bunting
whitethroat
reed bunting
yellowhammer
tree sparrow
goldfinch
and just before we left at 8pm a barn owl hunting in the field infront of the visitor centre.

hey dad checked my lists and those little egrets were a 1st for me.

Jason, me and my son went to bempton on monday 10 may and the weather was fine tho still windy but not so bad as scopes couldn't be used. had fantastic views of all cliff birds, especially the gannet colony and some good puffin sightings.

while in the area we went up to filey dams and the brigg and was rewarded with the most amazing fly-by from the resident barn owl which came so close to the hide you could almost have touched it. if that wasn't enough, a few minutes later a pair of little egrets turned up only to be driven off by a mute swan. brilliant little reserve.

on to the brigg: great views of eider ducks, turnstones, dunlin, oystercatchers, and what were possibly purple sandpipers. also 3 grey seals in rock pools at the end of the brigg.

to round off a few great days a stop at blacktoft sands on way back was rewarded with our first ever sightings of bearded tits as well as plenty of marsh harriers and the usual other birds there. all in all, a fantastic 3 day trip i'd recomend to anyone who fancies a trip to east yorkshire.

richard your comment about the wind could have been prophetic.

not only was it too windy for a scope it was too windy to hold the bins still enough to use at times.

plenty of birds around but due to it blowing a hooley and a northerly at that it was freezing and too rought o see anything really.

thankyou very much for all the information chaps.

i actually know that area of the coast quite well it's just i've never been to bempton in me life, despite being a yarkshireman born an bread, daft int it. been every where else on that bit of coast between skeggy and whitby just never bempton.

as for buggies an high heeled shoes, how the heck am i goin to fit in a buggy i'm 6 foot 2, an the other halfs heels don't fit me so we'll both be wearing our nice sturdy walking boots as usual.

Maybe it's the Health and Safety people working overtime, but Filey Brigg is a bit dangerous for the average tourist - the path along the top of the Brigg has a steep drop at the end and is definitely unsafe if you want to reach the rocks, the path zigzagging halfway along the cliff to the shore is damaged by landslides although passable in my opinion, but also has a sign warning that it's not safe (although it's an escape route for anyone cut off). I think you can walk all the way from the town along the shore at low tide but it's not a place you should try to reach the end (where the good birds are) with buggies, high heeled shoes, etc as the path is very uneven and slippery and if the tide comes in your options aren't good.

Having said that, careful and well-shod birders should be able to cope.

Hi Jason,
I married a Scarborough lass some 36 years ago and the NE Coast from Scarborough down to Flamborough Head is an amazing place for birding. A scope is always handy but can sometimes be a hindrance - it gets very windy (and I do mean VERY) up on the cliff tops and a scope is often next to useless.

One of my favourite places is Filey - usually the first place I go whenever I visit the In-laws. But Bemton is a magical experience; from the cliff tops at the RSPB reserve or from the sea below. Boat trips go from Flamborough, although it's been a long time since I last went on one and it can be very choppy!

Filey Brigg and the Country Park often turns up rareties. The Cafe at the Country Park caravan site is a haunt of the local birders - warming themselves with mugs of Yorkshire tea and bacon butties and has a log book of local sightings.

Filey Dams is small Nature Reserve in the middle of a housing estate just inland from the Town Centre and often turns up interesting finds. Also has two good hides. There has been a largish flock of Tree Sparrows, seen easily around the small car park and beyond, for as long as I can remember.

Google Filey Brigg and Filey Dams for further information if you decide to explore further.

Flamborough is also another gem.

Have a good trip.

Rick

Hi Jason. Bins will be fine unless you want to do any sea-watching for distant Skuas & Shearwaters.

we're going a week on friday.typically my scope broke 2 days ago do you need one or will the bins suffice?

i went there april last year and just my luck there was fog everywhere. it was that bad that we couldnt even see the sea!! still got some great views of the birds though on the cliffs just couldnt see everything, which kinda spoilt it a little. going again this may so hopefully the weather will be better

-- Edited by alex lewis-gough on Monday 26th of April 2010 10:07:48 PM

Yes its a lovely part of the country and probably one of the best birdwatching areas in the UK. The cliffs are scary though.

I have stayed in nearby Robin Hoods Bay a few times its an old smuggling village built into the steep sea front and in a cove.

Theres some good birdwatching walks from there too.

Having completed a days survey work at East Heslerton, near Filey, on Thursday I drove the short trip down to Bempton Cliffs. What a great idea , not been on cliffs like that for a year or so, 1000's of Auks, Kittiwakes and Gannets all screaming in what appeared a chaotic mess on the cliffs, over the sea and in filling the sky!? Razorbill, Guillemot and Puffin all within 5m at times just over the tops of the cliffs, great if you don't suffer from vertigo. Unfortunately, having taken my camera out for the first time in ages the battery was dead when I went to use it , nevermind, my memory and a short clip on my mobile phone will have to do instead. Lovely to watch the Fulmar gliding through the endless streams of other birds too. If you are ever that way, well worth a stroll along the clifftops . No migrants were on the tops though despite a good search, but plenty of Tree Sparrow and Reed Bunting on the feeders and a appently a Firecrest there on Wednesday!?