A day at Bempton Cliffs.

[glsammy]

We went to Bempton Cliffs today, more just to enjoy the good weather than hope to see anything worthwhile as the sea birds were mostly well out at sea.
The weather was glorious, just as I like it. Very cold but sunny with little or no wind.
As soon as we got there we were told about the Desert Wheatear which has been there since November 12th. As it was usually seen not far from the visitor centre we had a good look without any success.
After we'd had a rest and some lunch we tried again. This time success!
My first shot, which for quite a while we thought it was going to be my only one:


Brilliant isn't it?

The bird then disappeared down the cliff face.
We sat down for a rest and then had a real treat. The bird came back. Firstly at a fair distance:



Much better!

Then the bird came closer and closer, until it was too close to take any more shots!

Here's some of the 850 or so I took.





The last shot I took:



In the end I decided to leave the bird alone, although I must stress that it was the bird getting closer to us rather than us trying to stalk it.

Talking to the wardens there they were very hopeful the bird will survive, it's feeding well and is very aware of the birds of prey that regularly hunt in that area. The next few days may well be the deciding factor.

[aeshna5]

Good photos Graham of this confiding Desert Wheatear. Let's hope it survives the next couple of extreme days- maybe some supplementary mealworms, etc can be provided to help it on.

I've only seen one in the UK many moons ago- think it was at Heacham in Norfolk.

[glsammy]

It certainly made our day.
The staff there are very aware of the problems the weather may cause it and I'm sure they're doing whatever they can to help it survive.
It's the very first Wheatear of any type I've seen. Not a bad one to start with!

[Dogghound]

Great bird isnt it, I live locally so have been to see it throughout the winter (I went Yesterday too ). Its amazing how close it comes to you (within feet). This bird has been on the exact same patch of about 200 metres of cliff all winter near the staple newk view point. Its quite surreal seeing it feeding around the gannet nests, I can only assume it roosts in a crevice down the cliff.

Did you get onto any short eared owls? There was one yesterday and a few fulmar and gannets o the cliffs with auks and red throated divers on the sea.

Glad you enjoyed yourself.

[DavyG]

Lovely pics Graham, I'm glad he came closer and posed for you.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.

Dave

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Great bird isnt it, I live locally so have been to see it throughout the winter (I went Yesterday too ). Its amazing how close it comes to you (within feet). This bird has been on the exact same patch of about 200 metres of cliff all winter near the staple newk view point. Its quite surreal seeing it feeding around the gannet nests, I can only assume it roosts in a crevice down the cliff.

Did you get onto any short eared owls? There was one yesterday and a few fulmar and gannets o the cliffs with auks and red throated divers on the sea.

Glad you enjoyed yourself.

All the sea birds were out on the sea, no doubt enjoying the calm water!
I'll be going again in spring to catch them.

Didn't see much else at all really, apart from the usual suspects around the visitor centre! The noise from the Tree Sparrows was amazing!

I always enjoy Bempton, whatever I see.
This trip was more a confidence test for me than anything else. I haven't been further than 30 miles from home for over 9 months.
No problems at all so I'm going to be trying further afield later this year. The red kites are calling me!

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by DavyG

Lovely pics Graham, I'm glad he came closer and posed for you.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.

Dave

I'm almost blushing Dave!

[bloodbottler]

I had decided not to go to see this bird, preferring to spend some time photographing more typical winter birds. I weakened a couple of weeks ago and was completely bowled over by the character and colours of this engaging bird. I'm sure that he'll get plenty of high energy grub to see him through the cold snap, I hope it works. Glad you enjoyed your day. I had Kites outside the lab. window for much of yesterday.

[ChrisJB]

I was at Bempton last Sunday and was surprised to see plenty of guillemots and a few gannets on the cliffs. I'd assumed they came on the cliffs later than this. However, I hunted high and low for a razorbill and a kittiwake (and a little auk, though knew this one was a long shot) and saw neither.
The desert wheatear at Staple Newk was brilliant. It was so confiding and actually seemed to seek out human company. Perhaps it wanted to share our body heat!
We also went to Hornsey Mere for a taiga bean goose and the cattle egret at Tophill Low (a reserve I really cannot warm to) and missed out on both.

Chris

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by ChrisJB

I was at Bempton last Sunday and was surprised to see plenty of guillemots and a few gannets on the cliffs. I'd assumed they came on the cliffs later than this.

Guillemots often come and go from the cliffs all winter, starting around December (some groups even earlier) and just progressively increase in numbers and the length of time they stay as the winter draws on, until around late March/April when they stay. This is predominantly due to staking a claim on nesting sites and the colony, they still tend to roost on the sea though. The gannets start to turn up around now (late jan-feb) over the last few weeks I have had c.600 birds moving to the colony each seawatch I have done. A lot tend to stay offshore but a few progressively move onto the cliffs. The same can be said of fulmar.

Originally Posted by ChrisJB

However, I hunted high and low for a razorbill and a kittiwake (and a little auk, though knew this one was a long shot) and saw neither.

Razorbills (like puffins) dont move onto the cliffs until just before breeding when they return in good numbers. There are quite a lot on the sea around Bempton and in Filey bay at the moment but not on the cliffs. Kittiwakes also stay offshore prior to breeding. If you scoped the sea I should imagine you would get both species within 30mins.

Little Auk is a long shot, Bempton is not great for seawatching (in comparison to Filey and Flamborough) these birds tend not to come inshore unless its stormy weather. There has been low numbers this year compared to last, ive managed about c.5 all winter, all distant.

Originally Posted by ChrisJB

the cattle egret at Tophill Low (a reserve I really cannot warm to)

I dont mind tophill personally but I think the artificial nature of the site and all of the concrete reservoirs etc make it a little unsightly. I managed a bittern a few weeks ago which is hard to believe given the habitat there. Did you see any smew?