Projects at RSPB Bempton

A second visit to Bempton cliffs yesterday and I decided to concentrate on a couple of projects. First, trying to show the sea birds among the cliff flowers that form their home during the breeding season. Red Campion, Hogweed, Sea Matweed and Plantain are the predominant flowers. My second project was to try ways of showing the movement of the vast numbers of sea birds in and out of the cliffs. Here time-lapse flight trails show the numbers of birds going in and out of the cliffs.

RSPB Bempton Exploratory Visit

My last visit to Bempton was 13 years ago in 2013 so there are quite a lot of changes in terms of Visitor centre, car parking and the provision of railed viewing areas. It was very busy yesterday but it did not seem crowded and I chatted to bird watchers from many different countries as we tried to spot the Puffins!!. Here just a set of introductory shots to help me plan photography for the subsequent visits though, from experience, the joy of capturing such graceful Gannets and Kittiwakes in flight will still override any other plans.

Evening Sunshine at Glenelg

We hoped to see the famous pair of Sea Eagles off the jetty at Glenelg but no luck although we did get views of Gannets, Cormorant, Seals, Common Ringed Plovers and Goosanders.

Common Ringed Plover

 Two Male Goosanders dispute a fish

Fulmars and a Gannet

 A few images taken from the boat of Fulmars  in the sky and against the sea and a favourite Gannet image with backgrouns sea and cliffs.

Gannets from the Boat

 On Wednesday, I took a trip on the Yorkshire Belle along to the cliffs at Bempton that we had viewed the day before from above. The Gannets wheeled around the ship and I enjoyed capturing their flight antics. I like the subdued lighting and bland skies though this may not be to everyone's taste.

Gannets and Fulmars at Bempton RSPB Reserve

 Beautiful day at Bempton Cliffs where the Gannets still have young. There are 22,000 gannets there so plenty of opportunity to catch them in flight along with Fulmars and Herring Gulls. Also good to see a large flock of Tree Sparrows.