Birding Group Visit to RSPB Bempton Cliffs 4 Jun 2024
Day 2 of the Birding Group Overnighter to Yorkshire: Bempton Cliffs. We stayed overnight at the Travelodge at South Cave (please never again) and had breakfast at The Fox and Coney (stay there instead next time) before driving on to RSPB Bempton Cliffs reserve. The day was due to be a bit showery but, in the end, we managed to avoid the showers until the very moment we got to the car to leave. We were there fairly early and so we beat the crowds and actually managed to park in the car park just outside of the reception area rather than up in the overflow car park as usual.
Anne and I were planning on staying overnight in Harrogate so we were not as rushed as the others seemed to be, so we took our time going to all the viewpoints in both directions. The bird numbers seemed to be very good despite the bird flu of last year.
I never know the real numbers of birds we see; there are just too many of them to count so my figures are just relative impressions and not real numbers. Suffice it to say, there were healthy numbers of all the cliff nesting birds.
As I have observed in the past, Puffin numbers seem to be healthy and this may because they have adapted to nest in cracks in the cliff faces rather than their traditional earthen burrows. They were certainly easy to find.
The Guillemots, Puffins, Razorbills, Skylarks and Fulmars were the year ticks for the day but it is the whole experience that makes it here. The novelty of looking down onto a Gannet colony is worth the visit on its own.
I also added a few birds we saw en route including Buzzard and Red Kite. In fact we saw a few Red Kites over the three days we were in Yorkshire.
We stayed until we were tired and just as we got to the car, it started to rain heavily. We drove off to the outskirts of Harrogate where we were staying at The Pine Marten hotel overnight before we visited the RHA Harlow Carr gardens
Bird Sightings : RSPB Bempton Cliffs 4 June 2024
| Species | No |
|---|---|
| Blackbird | 2 |
| Buzzard | 1 |
| Canada Goose | 30 |
| Carrion Crow | 8 |
| Fulmar | 50 |
| Gannet | 2000 |
| Goldfinch | 6 |
| Grey Heron | 2 |
| Guillemot | 10000 |
| Herring Gull | 6 |
| House Martin | 2 |
| Jackdaw | 20 |
| Kestrel | 1 |
| Kittiwake | 2000 |
| Meadow Pipit | 4 |
| Pheasant | 1 |
| Pied Wagtail | 1 |
| Puffin | 20 |
| Razorbill | 8000 |
| Red Kite | 1 |
| Reed Bunting | 2 |
| Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon | 40 |
| Skylark | 8 |
| Swallow | 20 |
| Swift | 10 |
| Tree Sparrow | 50 |
| Woodpigeon | 10 |
