A spectacular coastal beauty spot

Spring is one of the best times and so we returned a couple of weeks ago while some of the birds were nesting and feeding their chicks.

By chance, we had selected a gorgeous bright, dry and sunny day with clear blue skies and warm temperatures, all enhanced by apparently endless and spectacular views over both the Yorkshire Wolds and North Sea.

I must admit I thought the site would be crowd-free because it was mid-week, outof- season and not a school holiday. But even as we approached we could see the crowds and masses of cars, so much so that we had to make use of an overflow car park.

Fortunately there had been no rainfall for a while and so the ground was dry and hard, making walking easier and not creating muddy conditions.

On site there is a shopcum- information centre, toilets, a refreshment van that produces wonderful snacks, and, of course, the famous viewing areas that overlook both the North Sea and the chalk-white cliffs. Entrance is free, although there is a modest car parking charge of £3.50 for the whole day.

By any standards, it is an astonishing place, even if the somewhat pungent smell can be rather off-putting. However, most visitors to this worldrenowned site are prepared to tolerate such a minor discomfort in return for seeing the magnificent gannets, the cute puffins or the bewildering variety of other seabirds that most of us would collectively describe merely as seagulls.

Apart from the seabirds, however, other varieties can be observed among the ground cover of this nature reserve.

It stretches along the cliffs with footpaths that are accessible by wheelchairs and it extends some way inland from the cliff tops, where there are some interesting wild flowers. Here you might notice wild animals like weasels or hares, or you will surely hear the skylarks and see other mysterious small birds in the bushes.

So what is the appeal of Bempton Cliffs?

Administered by the RSPB and largely owned by that charity, the site is of special scientific interest and is probably one of the best in Britain for viewing wildlife at surprisingly close quarters.

It is visited by some amazing birds, including those on migration in addition to many of our resident species. Its chief asset is that it is the only mainland site in this country where gannets breed and it is the most southerly seabird colony on the east coast.

To help visitors see the birds at close quarters, several safe viewpoints have been created on the cliff tops and these are accessible to wheelchairs.

Some are in positions at the tip of natural inlets so they provide open views of the cliff-face below. The cliffs, which are of white chalk, are home to almost quarter of a million birds – it is possible to see them both on the cliff faces and at sea, in the latter case either in flight or bobbing up and down on the waves.

I do not regard myself as being knowledgeable about seabirds and found it difficult to identify the various types of gull or tern. Certainly lesser black-backed gulls were in evidence, their upper parts being a dark grey rather than black, but also present were their larger cousins, great black-backed gulls with their black upperparts. Herring gulls were prominent too, as well as black-headed gulls and kittiwakes.

Two birds whose appearance, size and colour are very similar to one another are the guillemot and razorbill. Relatives of the auk, both have black upper parts and white lower parts, and both are in abundance on those cliffs.

The chief difference is their beaks. That of the guillemot is long and thin while the razorbill’s beak is very thick – and, as the name suggests, very sharp.

Both species nest on the cliffs, laying tapered eggs that do not roll off the ledges because neither bird uses nesting materials. How on earth they produce youngsters that do not fall off those narrow ledges is almost miraculous because their space is so limited.

It must be said that three species – gannets, fulmars and puffins – dominated our visit. In seeking them, we received enormous help from the more experienced birders – this is a pleasing feature of Bempton Cliffs. The more experienced viewers are more than happy to assist newcomers and help them find and identify the birds.

Locating the massive gannets with their black wing tips and yellow heads did not need any help from fellow visitors.

With a wingspan of around 6ft and bodies up to a yard in length, they cannot be missed either in flight or when clinging to the cliff face.

We saw several juveniles in their partial black plumage but these giant birds are very territorial – if one strays into the nesting space of another, it will be subjected to a merciless attack leading sometimes to death.

During our exploration, we learned from other visitors that a solitary fulmar had been sighted. Some refer to this bird as a fulmar petrel. It is a stout, heavy and rather dumpy seabird that looks like a gull.

With silvery grey upper parts and white under-parts, one could be forgiven for thinking it was one of our anonymous seagulls. In trying to identify it, binoculars are a necessity because it has a pair of prominent grey nostrils on top of its yellow beak. They look like the muzzles of small pistols!

Even with the help of our new friends, we did not see the fulmar – but we knew it was somewhere among those thousands of other birds that never stopped wheeling, flying, calling and landing on the cliff faces.

But by far the most popular, as always, was the puffin.

But even as we set about finding a puffin or two to watch, we learned that only two had been seen that morning. It may be that their main supply of food – sand eels – has been seriously reduced by pollution of the sea.

The puffin, only a foot or so in length, is highly popular with visitors because it resembles a tiny clown with its black and white suit, dumpy appearance, huge colourful beak with red, yellow and blue streaks, and enormous orange feet.

Sometimes called the seaparrot, this delightful bird can be seen around much of the British coastline but rarely, if ever, inland. We didn’t see any until a helpful viewer showed us one sitting in a cleft in the rocks, betrayed by his huge orange feet.

One historic matter that is often overlooked on this site was the practice of collecting guillemot eggs. This was common during the 18th, 19th and early part of the 20th centuries with men known as egg-climbers being lowered down Bempton Cliffs on ropes anchored at the top by their colleagues. The sight of these men dangling perilously at the end of swinging ropes on cliffs several hundred feet high was one of the tourist attractions of that region until it was banned in 1954.

Up to 130,000 guillemot eggs could be taken in one year, some for serious collectors but others for sale as food or for making patent leather.

Unfortunately for the guillemot, when an egg was stolen from its nesting site (and it only laid a single egg on its ledge), the female immediately laid another and when that was stolen, she laid another.

The sheer number of guillemots on those cliffs therefore made egg collecting a very prosperous occupation, well worth the risk of dangling on a rope over the sea and rocks below.

AND finally, two readers have reporting hearing cuckoos last month.

One was at Leighton Reservoir, near Masham, and the others were in the Yarm area.

One was at Eaglescliffe Golf Club and two were calling to each other near the River Leven.