Bad decision - we all make them, but I made quite a few today. My first mistake was not to set my alarm in order to get up in time to reach Flanborough Head for dawn. If I'd arrived at 6.30 instead of 7.00, I'd probably have some half-decent photos of Crag Martin. OK, so the bird was still about. No problem, I'll go to the lighthouse as that's where it was it was seen heading off to. So I arrived at the lighthouse and stared scanning. After about 10 minutes the pager informed me (incorrectly as it turned out) that the Crag Martin was actually north of North Landing at Thornwick, so I dashed off there only for the martin to cruise past the lighthouse 5 minutes later never to be seen again. Despite scouring the headland for another 6 hours, it was obvious that it had departed. My first House Martin for the year, 20 Sand Martins and a few Barn Swallows were scant reward.
Bempton Cliffs was quite nice and afforded some good photo opportunities. It's always nice to see so many Tree Sparrows in the UK and the feeders around the visitors centre provide plenty of good views of this now rather scarce species. From the cliffs, there were about 8 Puffins on the sea plus plenty of Guillemots, Razorbills, Gannets and Kittiwakes around.
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| Tree Sparrow, Bempton Cliffs RSPB, N. Yorks |
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| Tree Sparrow, Bempton Cliffs RSPB, N. Yorks |
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| Gannet, Bempton Cliffs RSPB, N. Yorks |
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| Gannet, Bempton Cliffs RSPB, N. Yorks |
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| Gannet, Bempton Cliffs RSPB, N. Yorks |
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| Gannet, Bempton Cliffs RSPB, N. Yorks |
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| Gannet, Bempton Cliffs RSPB, N. Yorks |
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| Gannet, Bempton Cliffs RSPB, N. Yorks |
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| Kittiwake, Bempton Cliffs RSPB, N. Yorks |
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| Kittiwake, Bempton Cliffs RSPB, N. Yorks |
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