Visit to Flamborough Cliffs: 8th August 2013

Visit to Flamborough Cliffs: 8th August 2013

We stayed at the North Star Hotel in Flamborough on the night of the 7th and rose early on the morning of the 8th for an early breakfast and an early (for us) walk along Flamborough Cliffs on an incredibly hot and sunny morning. In fact the temperatures were more like mid-day that 9am but it was beautifully still morning with only the noise of a farmer hay-making to break the sound of silence and birds. As we walked out of the hotel we immediately saw a flock of House Sparrows that were nesting in the roof space of the hotel and feeding in the corn field opposite. As we got to the cliffs a mixed bunch of Swallows and House Martins swooped around and the sound of Kittiwakes could be heard even before the cliffs were in sight. As we walked along the cliff path we saw a pair of birds fly above us and engage in a furious aerial battle – it turned out to be two Peregrines having a fight about something and going at it talon to talon until they disappeared into the distance still fighting.

The cliffs were full of Kittiwakes and they seemed a lot more widespread than last year. There were some Gannets flying around but nowhere near as many as at Bempton Cliffs. We stopped for a while at the third cove and watched a few Puffins bobbing around on the water. Kittiwakes abounded and we spent some time talking about them to a rambler we met. We walked for about an hour and a half before returning to the hotel to check out and revisit Bempton Cliffs to see if we could find the elusive Fulmars and Skuas we had missed the day before.

Bird Sightings : Flamborough Head