Day 125 - Bempton Cliffs

I spent Saturday on the coast around Bempton Cliffs and Flamborough Head.

As you can see, it was quite a dull day, though the cloud / sea fog did lift later on.

I found all the parts leftover from a crab dinner! I could have rebuilt it, minus the inside bits (I took this photo before finding the other claw/legs),

In June the cliffs were packed full with gannets, puffins, Kittiwakes, guillemots and razorbills. Now there are pretty much only gannets on the cliffs. They weren't easy to take a good photo of either due to a combination of the light and the fact they were mostly snoozing or preening, never posing nicely!

 

A flock of goldfinches which were moving around the reserve, landing amongst different thistle patches throughout my visit!

This young gannet was playing with a stick

But, inevitably, he dropped it.

Another was taking a nap...

Then woke up and started preening.

I also spotted one much younger chick on the cliffs, still fluffy-headed.

Down below on the rocks there was an oystercatcher (only visible through binoculars - and camera zoom!).

I love the sounds if seabird colonies so I made a short video of the sound of the gannets...


Walking back along the cliff path, I spotted a few hoppers...

and back at the visitor centre, the tree sparrows I always see there.

My next stop was North Landing (between Bempton and Flamborough Head) for a bit of rock pooling

I mainly saw small fish and anemones, but was hoping to find crabs.

The little boy in the photo below (and his dad) had got to all the pools first and either scared all the crabs deep into hiding or collected them in their bucket so I wasn't hopeful I was going to find a single crab.

Hooray! Lifted a rock, found a crab! But that pesky little boy spotted that and no sooner had I lifted the camera than he was in with his net, stealing my crab! I did manage this one photo.

I was not happy after that. The boy had his own crabs, he could have let me at least get a good look before he yoinked mine!

I left shortly after - at least I'd found a crab. This is the view from part way back up the path.

I consoled myself with an ice cream. Salted caramel. It was good!

Then went onwards to Flamborough Head for a quick wander along the cliff top there, as the sun had come out for a bit.

A pretty good day on the coast :) It was great to be beside the sea!