Bempton Cliffs - 16th July 2020

"Please, please don't eat the daisies..."

Dull, cloudy but mild sums up my walk up to the cliffs at 0515hrs this morning, my first visit in four days.

Walking the seaward path between Mosey Downgate viewpoint and Bartlett Nab, I came across a rather lost Razorbill!

It ran and flapped rather comically onto Bartlett Nab viewpoint and tried to escape through the gaps in the fence. Unfortunately, it could only get its head through! Thinking rescue time again, I took off my optical equipment and coat so the I could use my jumper to assist in catching the bird. (Razorbills have rather sharp bills and cannot differentiate between being helped and being threatened!). I need not have worried because it eventually found a gap that it could squeeze through and off it went!

On the ledges, the Razorbills and Guillemots are thinning out. Those solo birds that remain are probably females as it is the male that swims out to sea with their jumpling. The pairs remaining are probably failed or non breeders. It does seem that the Auks have had a poor breeding season. Similarly, the Herring Gulls seem to have struggled both in rural and urban communities. The pair on Bartlett Nab only raised one young this year rather than the normal two.

Even walking around Bridlington, where Herring Gulls thrive on human left overs, the numbers of young are few and far between.

Kittiwakes seem to be thriving though and it can't be long before youngsters known as Tarrocks in their first year take their first flights.

Gannets continue to be one of Bempton's success stories

Puffins will remain on the cliffs until the end of July, early August. They can be elusive but often show well.

Several Barn Owl pairs are breeding in the Bempton and Buckton area. This one was hunting on Cliff Lane, but distant.

And a random Yellowhammer belting out its song.

A couple of years ago, I suggested to the reserve warden that it would be good to provide winter feed for the seed eaters, similar to that taking place at Metlands and Buckton. I was told that this would not work and doubt was expressed that the birds would find it! Well, the seed must have been sown! There is now a fantastic field dedicated to this.