This is RSPB Bempton Cliffs and it’s one of my favourite places to visit. Here, I can watch gannets vie for the best nest sites, razorbills lay eggs on precarious cliff faces and kittiwakes’ welcome tiny fluffy chicks. I’ll be following the wildlife through the changing seasons and meeting up with the RSPB to see how they monitor their progress here.
RSPB Bempton Cliffs
This is RSPB Bempton Cliffs and it’s one of my favourite places to visit. It’s located on the Yorkshire coast and is a renowned seabird haven. Spectacular chalk cliffs house thousands of nesting seabirds, including puffins, guillemots, gannets, and razorbills.
Spring
Spring has arrived, and with that, the seabirds are back. It’s known as ‘seabird city’ and it’s the largest mainland sea bird colony in the UK. Around half a million birds gather here between March and October to breed and nest on these towering chalk cliffs. And this is my favourite part of the reserve, Staple Newk. It’s a spectacular chalk arch jutting out into the sea. I can spend hours here watching the seabirds all swirling around in great masses. And it’s the best place to watch the gannets.
Gannets & razorbills
Gannets have a distinctive courtship ritual, tapping their bills together and preening. They mate for life and return to the same nest site each year to renew their bond. But space is at a premium here which sometimes causes conflict. Quite often the females are guarding the nest and the males are collecting nesting material with some cheekily stealing from unguarded nests. Also on the ledges are razorbills, with their distinctive black and white plumage and thick black beak. This is a courting pair in what’s known as the 'ecstatic' pose, where one bird raises its beak, while its mate preens its throat. These birds are monogamous, pairing up with the same partner for life. Razorbills lay a single egg once a year, often right on the cliff edge.
Puffins
With the sun going down, I get a glimpse of one of the birds this area is famous for - puffins. I’ve got some puffins flying now! Look at that, they’re just landed right on the edge of the cliff. Look at them, so inquisitive, I just love puffins.
Meeting Poppy from the RSPB
It’s mid-June and the breeding season is in full swing. I’m here to meet Poppy from the RSPB find out how they monitor the birds here. Poppy and the team record new eggs and chicks on the nests to check productivity rates. The information gathered by Poppy and the RSPB team helps them understand any changes in the population. But thankfully each person only has a small area of cliff to study. I spot a guillemot with a little chick underneath it. It's a very precarious little life for these chicks living on these little rock ledges. This chick will stay with its mum until it’s about 3 weeks old when it will leap from the cliffs into the water.
