top of page
Search

Seabird Bonanza

Julia and I have just spent a long weekend with friends Paul and Claire Lloyd, at Bempton and Flamborough. I arrived ahead of the everyone else, travelling over from a job in the Lake District, so I had Friday afternoon and Saturday morning to myself. Most of our time was spent at Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve photographing the multitude of seabirds that inhabit the towering chalk cliffs, rising some 330 to 400 feet above the North Sea.

The Bempton and Flamborough cliffs are home to almost 400,000 seabirds; Guillemot (65,000 pair), Black-legged Kittiwake (45,000 pair), Razorbill (20,000 pair), Gannet (15,000 pair), Atlantic Puffin (2-3,000 pair) and Northern Fulmar (several hundred pair), plus Herring Gull and Shag.

In addition to visiting Bempton Cliffs we also spent some time around North Landing at Flamborough (where we rented a barn conversion for our stay) and also a trip out on the Yorkshire Belle.

Bempton Cliffs
Bempton Cliffs
Bridled Guillemot
Bridled Guillemot

Bempton and Flamborough are about more than seabirds though. The clifftops fields are managed with in a way that benefits declining farmland birds, and a walk along the cliffs and various footpaths provide ample opportunity to view and photograph these birds.

Our trip out on the Yorkshire Belle on Monday not only gave us great views of the seabirds from sea-level, but also produced sightings of several Bottlenose Dolphin!! On Tuesday at least three Minke Whales were watched feeding from Bempton Cliffs!

 
 
 

Comments

© 2026 Paul Hill Photography

bottom of page