Cliffhanger

Bempton Cliffs


Gannet


Guillemots




Kittiwakes


Puffin

Today I've been to Bempton Cliffs, on Yorkshire's east coast. Took a lot of photos; deleted a lot of photos. Here are the excuses: camera ignorance; too much sun; birds too white; birds too fast; grass too long; sun in wrong direction. Etc etc etc.

Whingeing aside, it was fantastic. As we arrived, a party of schoolchildren was doing the same. 'Wowwwww!' they went, which is the correct response. The air was full of birds of different sizes; it's hard to get a feel for the height of the cliffs, but the tiny specks on the sea below - auks and Kittiwakes - give an idea of scale.

The sight of Guillemots, Razorbills, Gannets and Kittiwakes wedged onto tiny ledges, high above jagged rocks and rushing waves, never fails to boggle the brain.

There's a constant racket of raucous calls.

'Kitti weeeekkk!'
'Raaaarrrrrhhhhhh!'
'Gah gah gah gah!'
'Klaaaaa kla kla kla kla kla!'

The most common human 'call' is 'Is that a Puffin?'

It also smells a bit, but you get used to that quickly.

Here's Bempton, the movie (with sound). Prepare to be underwhelmed by my camera work once more...



photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

digiscoped photos taken with Canon Powershot A640 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece