Bempton Circular Walk - 26th July 2019

Kittiwake "Tarrock"

With all of the very hot weather of late, it has been difficult to get out for a decent walk with Symphony, so today we went out at 0600hrs on the four mile Bempton Circular. The weather forecast was for sunny periods all morning and it certainly was at the start, but clouds began to gather and towards the end, a heavy shower and claps of thunder! July is probably one of the quietist months for passerines and I did not expect to see very much around Hoddy Cows Lane. My expectation was true to form!

Starlings coming together in Buckton

Buckton pond has very little water with only Canada Geese, Moorhens and Mallards but many Hirundines massed above. The scrape is virtually overgrown now. A Chiffchaff lurked in the low vegetation.

Hoddy Cows Lane was very quiet with small numbers of Common Whitethroat, Yellowhammers, Goldfinches and the higher reaches had Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Reed Bunting. Two Grey Partridge were on newly mown fields.  None, however, wanted to be photographed!

Arriving on the cliffs, it is getting quieter with nearly all of the Razorbills gone from the ledges, Guillemots certainly thinning out rapidly and Puffins still in flight, on the water and a few distant on the ledges. A lone Corn Bunting was singing out from the top of a post on the RAF buildings.

It is great to see the Kittiwakes fledging, now known as Tarrocks in their first year. Kittiwake adults are very "pretty" birds, but the Tarrocks are even more special!

The  young Gannets  (Guga) are continuing to develop with their downy plumage beginning to gain black feathers. The last of the downy plumage should be gone by the time they are 11 - 12 weeks old.

The "new kids on the block" at Bartlett Nab are defending their newly acquired estate, with further evidence that one of the pair is a year 4 bird.

Gulls are getting some very bad press at the moment. Herring Gulls, (or marmite gulls as I often refer to them), are in serious decline, earning them red status. Only one of three young at Bartlett Nab survived but appears well.

Shouting loudly "please don't persecute us!" 

It is the end of the breeding season for the Auks (Puffin, Guillemot and Razorbill) and there are large gaps where most of them attempted breeding. A few Puffins were seen in flight, and on the sea, but those on the ledges were distant.

The last part of the walk is down Cliff Lane and probably the quietist for birds. This morning, large numbers of Tree Sparrows and House Sparrows flew down the hedgerows in family groups. I also managed an image of two very splendid Yellowhammers.