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Bempton Cliffs Birds Days away

Gannets at Bempton Cliffs


A photography day with Steve Hedges.

RSPB Bempton Cliffs is a jewel of a location on the Yorkshire coast. It is home to the largest mainland seabird colony in England. Over half a million seabirds flock to Bempton Cliffs to breed. After spending the winter out at sea, gannets, kittywakes, puffins, guillemots, razorbills and fulmars head back to Bempton to breed on Yorkshire’s rugged sea cliffs.”

 

Gannet flypast

 

The gannets are here to nest

 

Gannets gathering nesting material

 

 

Sometimes a fight

 

Gannets pair for life and reinforce their bond with “beaking” displays

 

 

 

Adopting an ET pose

 

A single gannet stretching indicates that it is about to take-off

 

 


 

Space on the rock face is at a premium and jealeously protected. Here, a gull is mobbing a gannet, probably because the gannet has got too close to the gull eggs. (see also the picture at the top of the page).

 

 

Gannets also squabble over space

 

Sometimes it looks fairly vicious

 

 

 

 

More sqabbling pictures in the gallery

 


 

Gannets in flight

 

 

 

 

We tried some “techniques”. Here a long shutter speed to blur the motion

 

And here a long exposure to create “angels”

 


 

Other birds. Razorbills mating

 

Kittiwake

 

Looking inland, a skylark

 


 

Bempton Cliffs

 

Red campion

 

Bempton cliff face, with Staple Neuk arch

 

Next day, from the sea at Staple Neuk

 

And the geological features at the bottom of the cliffs.

 


3 replies on “Gannets at Bempton Cliffs”

Great set, too many faves. probably the ‘fight’ top then the mobbing for me. I must go there next year.

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