Birding visit to Bempton Cliffs in July, plus two boat trips on the Yorkshire Belle

I revisited Bempton Cliffs in July, staying in a lovely B&B in Bempton Village.  On my first day, I visited Bridlington in order to go along the coast to Bempton Cliffs aboard the Yorkshire Belle.

Three Redshanks in Bridlington Harbour at low tide - seen during a morning walk before the boat sailed

View of the cliffs at Flamborough Head while sailing on the Yorkshire Belle

Guillemots and Puffins fleeing from the boat

Gannets living on the side of the cliffs

The next day I visited RSPB Bempton Cliffs and walked along the edge of the cliffs inside the reserve

Juvenile Gannet with black wing tips 

Adult male Gannet gathering grass to add to the nest

Adult female Gannet with fluffy Guga (baby Gannet)

Kittiwakes and Puffins on the sheer cliff face

Bridled Guillemot calling to a partner

Pair of Guillemots with young jumpling - called this as, when old enough, it will jump into the sea

Assorted Northern Gannets gliding on the wind at the top of the cliffs

Hare with long ears - viewed from the window of my B&B in Bempton

My second voyage on the Yorkshire Belle was an RSPB organised Gannet Diving trip.

On the way from Bridling to Bempton, I saw a Puffin with a beak full of Sand Eels

A Fulmar joined the Gannets when staff on board the boat started throwing fish into the water

Gannets slowly flew round the boat as fish was being thrown overboard

More and more Gannets started flying round the boat as we sailed round in circles not far from the cliffs

There was a feeding frenzy as groups of Gannets tried to capture a fish

A Kittiwake joined a small group of Gannets that were trying to pick up an easy meal

Later in the week I visited RSPB Bempton Cliffs again in order to do some more birdwatching.

During my walk to the reserve along Cliff Lane, I spotted a Yelllowhammer on top of a farm building

At the reserve, a Tree Sparrow was gathering nesting materal

Apart from seeing lots of Gannets and Kittiwakes, I managed to find a Fulmar with a fluffy chick

A Puffin standing on a ledge at the edge of a cliff was joined by a flapping Guillemot

This is one of the very few Razorbills that were still on the cliff - most had already gone out to sea

The Yellowhammer was still on the roof of the farm building and singing during my walk back to the B&B

I again spent a very enjoyable few days in Bempton and hope to visit again next year for more walking and birdwatching.

Northern Gannets on Bass Rock, Firth of Forth, Scotland

In August I went with friends to the Edinburgh Festival.  I again took a day off while there in order to get away from the crowds of humans and instead see crowds of birds - thousands of Northern Gannets that cover Bass Rock in the summer in order to breed and have their chicks - guga.

This is a view of Bass Rock taken from North Berwick on the mainland.  The rock is white with the Gannets that cover it for a few months in the summer.  The photo was actually taken later in the day, after our boat ride, as the sun came out for five minutes.

It was actually a dismal rainy day and we were on an open boat!  We were very determined to go on the journey to the rock.  However, when we got to the rock, it stopped raining so I was able to get my camera out and take some photographs.  The building near the lighthouse used to be a prison many years ago.  The white blobs are all Gannets!

I managed to get a couple of close-up photographs of Gannets with fluffy guga chicks.  The guga in the photo below is all huddled up and looks a bit cold and miserable.

This guga looks nice and fluffy and is much happier.

The birds were everywhere.  It was a very impressive sight and very deafening!

Common Terns and their chicks on tern rafts at Greenwich Ecology Park, London

As we are currently experiencing an unusual heatwave in the UK, I am not feeling much like wandering around in the hot sun with a heavyish camera and am, therefore, confined to barracks.  So, as I am guilty of not writing a blog for ages, I thought I would now get round to adding photographs of my new favourite birds - Common Terns - in my new favourite place - North Greenwich Ecology Park.  This is a very tiny nature reserve on the Greenwich Peninsular in London and very near to the O2 centre and the Emirates cable car that goes over the river Thames. 

I visited the park on a few occasions from the middle to end of June.  At the time there were plenty of adults and their chicks on several tern rafts that were floating in the middle of the lake.

From the bird hide that is nearest to the entrance to the park I saw this adult tern standing in front of a shelter on a small raft that was covered with pebbles.

There was another, much larger raft, with wooden edges and also with the central part covered with pebbles.  In this photograph there are two adult terns standing near the edge of the raft, with a chick walking down a sloping plank that leads to the water.

The adult birds were flying out of the park and fishing in the river Thames - bringing back small fish to feed both chicks and the adults that remained on the raft in order to look after the babies.  This tern was perched on the edge of the raft and has a poor little fish in it's beak.

The birds were constantly flying out and back in to the park.  Here an adult has just landed and has a fish in it"s beak ready to feed the chick that is standing on the pebbles in front of it.  There are 3 other hungry chicks on the left-hand side of the raft.

There was an adult tern with open beak on the 1st floor of the raft and several adults and chicks on the ground floor.

Here, the chick on the left with wide open beak was begging for food from the nearby adult.

A tern was just flying in with another fish-of-the-day while two companions were singing a duet on the lst floor of the raft.

It was more-or-less non-stop fish delivery during the time I was watching the birds.  Here, the bird with raised wings was feeding a juvenile while the other chicks were impatiently waiting for more to eat.

Yet another fish supplier has just landed on the edge of the raft.

A hard-working tern was just coming in to land, while another adult bird was sheltering in the shade under the raised part of the raft.  There were a lot of lovely white water lilies near the edge of the bank on the other side of the lake.

All the photos above were taken using a long zoom lens on my camera.  This was taken using a short zoom and shows the whole of the tern raft, plus a bird leaving the raft (just in front of the raised wooden bars) and a bird flying in (towards the top left of the photo and in front of the reeds, shrubs and grass on the far bank of the lake.

This is a view from the window of the hide with reeds in front of the window, water lilies at the edge of the lake and the tern raft in the middle of the lake.

There was a second bird hide at the other end of the lake, but there were a lot of tall reeds and flowers in front of the windows so the lake could not be seen.  However, in a gap between the foliage, I could see a tern with a fish in it's beak standing on top of the upright pole.  Obviously, there was a raft here that was much nearer to the hide, but the rest of it was out of view.

A tern stood facing forwards on the horizontal beam at the top of the raft.  I think that this is a very amusing pose!

Next time I visit the Ecology Park I expect that all the juvenile terns will have fledged and the rafts will be empty.  I must remember to definitely go back there again next year!

Goslings, Great Crested Grebe chicks, waterbirds and foxgloves in Hyde Park

This follows on from yesterday's post about my visit to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park in the middle of May, where I saw Princess Diana's memorial White Garden and lots of water birds - including a cygnet riding on it's mother's back - on the Round Pond and the Long Water.

The foxglove plantation in the below photographs was in an area at the end of the Serpentine and not far away from the cafe area.  The mixture of flowers looked absolutely amazing.  I absolutely love the tall elegant foxgloves and they were so perfectly complemented by the mix of other flowers planted with them.

I loved the flowers but my main aim when walking round any of London's parks is to photograph the wildlife.  There was a juvenile coot with huge feet clomping around on one of the reed beds opposite the cafe.

Not far away the white duck was scrabbling around at the water's edge in a feeding frenzy.

Further along the Serpentine there was a Greylag goose family - mum, dad and at least five young goslings.

A young herring gull was eyeing them up and, no doubt, hoping it would be able to catch one for lunch.  I love that, in this photograph, one of the baby goslings is swimming right underneath a parent's backside.  Here the goose is probably unaware that the herring gull is swimming right behind the family.

However, geese are always on the look-out for possible predators when they have a young family to look after.  In this photograph the adult goose has turned round and scared off the gull, which is now in full flight.

During my walk I came across this attractive blonde Egyptian goose, which I believe is a female.

Near the lido there was a family of Canada geese.  Here is an adult with five baby goslings.  Trust one of them not to be paying attention and swimming in the wrong direction!  No doubt it soon discovered it's mistake.

How cute are these two baby Canada goslings?  They are just amazing little fluff balls!

Someone had put some food down for birds - little red berries from the look of it - and the geese came out of the water in order to gobble some up.  Here one of the cute fluff balls is about to have a snack.

Further along the path round the lake, someone was feeding a grey squirrel with seeds.  It was perched on the side of a tree trunk while eating and some of the bits of seed have dropped onto the bark under it's front paws.

Towards the end of my walk I came across a pair of Great Crested Grebes with one young chick.   They were in the middle of the Serpentine and, therefore, it was very difficult to take any very clear photographs.  The following were taken with my camera at maximum zoom, but I was excited that I had seen the family and was pleased that some were clear enough to actually see the young chick.

Each parent was taking it in turns to give the chick a piggy-back ride.  In this photograph the chick's little stripey head can just be seen.

Now it's head is sticking up above the parent's wing feathers.  What a strange-looking face it has got!

From time-to-time, the other parent would bring a little fish for the chick.  I did not manage to get any photographs of it being fed, unfortunately.  Then the chick would be dropped off one parent's back and was floating around in the water for a little while before clambering onto the back of the other parent.

As, to me, both parents looked the same, I have no idea whether my photographs show the chick riding on the same parent or on each of them after change-over has taken place.

This is a photograph of a Great Crested Grebe parent on it's own.

Here are both parents, with the baby on the back of the windblown Great Crested Grebe on the right.

Now the parents are into a synchronised swimming routine, with the chick firmly bedded down between the parent's wings.  This is when they decided that enough feeding had taken place and they headed off across the Serpentine to the little island on the other side where their nest was located.

It was now getting quite late, about 18.00, but I couldn't resist taking a few more photographs before I went home.  This is a part-leucistic Greylag goose with white patches on it's face.

Here is a mute swan with yet another Great Crest Grebe.  I was fascinated by the difference in size.

I began this post with photos of beautiful foxgloves and mixed flowers and am ending it with more flowers. On my way out of the park, there were beautiful formal flower beds planted with tall white foxgloves, mauve flowers and purple and white violas.

I also loved these pale pink tall flower spikes - not sure what they are called.

What a great day in the park - incredible flowers together with young and old wildlife and lots of exercise for me and my camera.