A wet and windy weekend

A rare weekend where both Mrs P and myself had the weekend off, and we were desperate to get away in the van. As the weekend got closer the rain clouds on the weather reports didn’t disappear as we had hoped. In fact the whole of the UK looked pretty miserable for Saturday, but it did look to be clearing up a bit in the East on Sunday. So an easy decision was made to head to the East coast with RSPB Bempton Cliffs at the top of the list of places to visit. This is where it all started for me with my wildlife photography, and it was like I was heading home. For years I have wanted to come back for a decent image of a Puffin, but they have either ‘Gone fishing’ at the time of my visit or I was unable to travel due to lock downs.

Pulling into the car park at Bemton Cliffs the windscreen wipers were on their fastest setting, but there was no way a bit of rain was going to stop us. So once the waterproofs were on, we headed out towards one of the many viewing platforms. If you have never been to Bempton Cliffs before, it is highly recommended as there are approximately a quarter of a million sea birds on the cliffs or circling over the sea, and a sight that will impress anyone. At the very first platform whilst scanning the cliffs with my binoculars a little orange beak popped out from behind a rock not far away from me. I managed to grab a few decent shots before it was bullied off its perch by a Razor-bill and it flew off out of sight. Immediately checking the camera I was quite chuffed with the result. Mrs P was happy that she had seen one and retreated back to the shelter of the warm van leaving me to wander the cliff tops with my camera. A couple of hours went by, and by the time I returned to the van the rain had stopped, I had dried out and had a few decent images of various birds.

We then headed down into Bridlington for some fish and chips, followed by a shortish walk around Flamborough Head, and as we pulled into the light house car park there was a flurry of men in camouflage gear with cameras with long lenses. They were looking for a Hoopoe that had been sighted about an hour earlier, but the location of the sighting was too far away for a belly full of fish and fried potatoes. We then retreated back to the van and found somewhere to park up overnight, which is easier said than done as the local council have really tightened up on overnight parking. So my secret overnight parking place will remain a secret.

The following morning, and an early start and we returned to Bempton Cliffs. I was hoping to see a Short Eared Owl or Barn Owl hunting over the Southern fields, but instead found a Kestrel sat in a tree, that refused to entertain whilst I was there. A deer and a Hare being the highlights of this visit.

We then relocated South to Hornsea to check out a caravan site where Mrs P is having a girly weekend in the near future. Once she was happy that she had checked everything that required checking (pubs, shopping) we were heading South again to another one of our favourite places Spurn Point.

By now the clouds had cleared and we had prolonged spells of glorious sunshine, so whilst Mrs P soaked up the rays on the beach I went off in search of feathered subjects with the camera. Spurn Point is a key spot for migrating birds and there are plenty of species on show, the highlight for me was a couple of Ringed Plover mating, but admittedly I did feel a bit of a perv photographing them in the act. A few Wheatear and a Little Egret also made the trip worthwhile.

So what looked like being a wash out of a weekend, turned out to be a good photography trip with some decent images and a couple of photos, along with some of Mrs P’s stone art Penguins that will go in our ‘Adventures of Heidi and Darren’ memory box.