Of Lenses and Moose: Bempton Cliffs

Well, this was our stop on the way north on my final visit, with Ma. Sarah and I have heard fellow guests enthusing about it so I had to take a look. The only slight disaster was that the roads turned out to be so bad that it took me over 4 hours to get from there to Seahouses - I had reckoned on 2.5 max. And as I didn't have Moira's number she was more than a little worried when we eventually rolled up. We're going to have to go there next Spring Sarah, but I shall plan the route a little more carefully - and probably get you up in the middle of the night for an early start.

Bempton really is rather reminiscent of the cliff coastline in Aberdeenshire. The Bullers of Buchan and Troup Head both came to mind.

There are half a dozen safely fenced viewing platforms along the cliff (though my best shots weren't from a platform at all). I left Ma ensconsed in a garden chair at the one closest to the centre and visited 4 of them. Think the best views were probably from one that I just didn't have time to get out to.

There are good numbers of guillemots and razorbills there, and a few puffins (well, probably quite a lot, I saw plenty in flight though very few on the cliffs, their burrows were obviously not so convenient as the Farnes for viewing).

Good numbers of kittiwakes, with some very early chicks.

But obviously the reason for going was the gannets. They weren't as plentiful as at Troup - or perhaps were just spread over a wider area of cliff - but for someone like Sarah who has never had really close views it's just got to be seen. My first gannet chicks incidentally. And the views were great - I haven't touched up or cropped any of these.