BEMPTON CLIFFS RSPB
Explore the UK’s most accessible ‘seabird city’
Bempton Cliffs RSPB is now part of the ‘ Yorkshire Wildlife Triangle’, offering an almost unrivalled range of wildlife experiences. These 400ft cliffs are a marvel in themselves and the centre is now open all year round, but a summer visit, of course, ensures incredible views of seabirds.
WHERE TO WATCH 1
When is a car park not just a car park? When it has a depression full of scrub and it’s on the east coast! The Dell is a great place to start with the potential of migrant warblers and buntings dropping in here to feed. There is also the feeding centre where a mix of species may come and feed along with the odd rodent! And you have still to pass through the visitor centre!
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Before the cliffs are a number of fields managed for a mixture of birds. Spring may see wagtails, pipits and larks while winter is an ideal time to come and look for owls hunting over them. A good year can see both Short-eared and Long-eared Owls as well as a Barn Owl or two hunting the voles in the grass.
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Finally you have made it to the cliffs! Don’t forget to enjoy these whitewashed cliffs for what they are, staring out into the North Sea. Then you can look for Puffins, Razorbills and Guillemots. Try to see the display flight of the Razorbill which is something else. Then there are the fly-by Fulmars, and the noise of the Kittiwakes, not forgetting the smell in full season!
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You can try walking north, heading towards Buckton where again you could find a rare warbler or bunting. Look out for scrub and check for anything moving both in spring or autumn. Look out for the Herring Gulls making their alarm call as the local Peregrine goes hunting or a migrant raptor is moving along the cliffs. Return south for your big finish.
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Bempton has now got mainland breeding Gannets. The colony can be watched from January to September with juveniles even into October around the sea. In 2020 and 2021, another bird has made its home in this colony, a Black-browed Albatross. If it is back in 2022, remember to get here early as the car park soon fills up!