Species - Gannet (Morus bassanus)
Location - Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve
Grid ref - TA 19647 74241
Bempton Cliffs is where it all started for me with wildlife photography. A few years ago on a family holiday at Filey I had gone for an early morning walk on the cliff tops, but hadn’t realised that there was an RSPB reserve here. Stood on one of the viewing platforms was a RSPB warden conducting a survey of Gannets with a big camera on a tripod. After half an hour of the warden showing me the various seabirds on the cliffs, I was hooked and less than a month later my camera arrived in the post.
So I was long overdue a return visit here and a ridiculously early alarm call saw me heading East in the car. I had checked the weather and it looked okay for a sunrise shot of Flamborough lighthouse, but as sunrise drew closer I knew that there wasn’t going to be anything spectacular and made my way straight to Bempton Cliffs. As I pulled in to the empty car park the heavens opened, but not to be deterred I kitted up and made my way down to the viewing platforms in the driving rain.
I had an image in my head that I wanted, which is two gannets rubbing their heads together. I know that Gannets are monogamous and they mate for life returning to the same nests year on year. So from the viewing platform I found a lone Gannet on the cliff edge; I didn’t have to wait long before its life partner turned up and they started their courtship procedure, which involves rubbing their heads together for about half an hour before they set about mating. So knowing your target species’ behaviour certainly helps, and within half an hour of arriving at the site I had the shot that I was after.
Gannets are stunning birds, they get their full adult plumage after about 5 years and with a wing span of about 2 metres they look majestic floating on the winds that batter the cliffs here. They are equally spectacular diving into the water at about 62 miles per hour where they can get quite deep to catch fish that other divers cannot reach. During the summer months there are boat trips along the coast line here where you can see the diving gannets from the water, but I haven’t been on one of these boat trips yet.
What was disturbing about the gannets was the amount of fishing line and fishing nets that these birds use to make their nests, and further along the cliff was the remnants of a Corvid, dead and entangled in a fishing line. Despite the one dead bird that I saw, there were dozens of other species of bird showing today. There were plenty of Skylarks in the fields, Tree Sparrows, Shags, a lone Kestrel, Fulmars, and various gulls. The day finished nicely with a coffee and a delicious cake, at the RSPB Cafe.
Bempton Cliffs is also famous for its Puffins, and although there had been a handful sighted here a few days before I arrived, they had all gone back out to sea with the Razorbills and Guillemots (auks). Hopefully they should be back in the next couple of weeks, because that’s another image that I want, a Puffin with a beak full of sand eels.
When you arrive at the site, it’s always worth checking the sightings book in the Cafe, or checking the RSPB website blog for recent sightings which can also include seals, whales and dolphins. Entry to the site is about £10 for the day, or free for RSPB members. Membership is basically £4 per month where you also get a free book, and even this tight-fisted Yorkshire man knows that this is excellent value for money.
