New Year's Eve on Bempton Cliffs

Fulmar

New Year's Eve and I was keen to capture the last sunrise of 2017. Arriving on the cliffs at 0730hrs, it was soon clear that there would be no spectacular colours as heavy cloud obscured the east! The morning dawned a dull grey and only an hour or so later did any brightness appear!

It may not have been spectacular, but the sight of a Barn Owl quartering the fields made up for my disappointment along with an early morning Kestrel trying its luck over the derelict RAF Bempton.

The cliffs echoed the "guttural" calls of  thousands of Guillemots, on the ledges, in flight and in rafts on the sea.

One of my favourite seabirds, the Fulmar, were also in good numbers, the light and contrast thwarting my efforts for capturing them in flight!

Keeping an eye on the noisy neighbours!

And of course, one of the resident Herring Gulls

At least five Shags were on the water below Grandstand viewpoint giving four of the famous "Bempton Eight" breeding seabirds!

Some more good news, the Seabird Centre re-opens from 1st January 2018!