Auks at Bempton Cliffs

10th April 2022

What I love about Bempton Cliffs is the warm welcome you get, no only from the visitor centre staff but the Tree Sparrow colony. In my home county of Hertfordshire they used to be quite common to the extent that I would get them in the garden occasionally and at the Rye Meads Ringing Group back in the late 1960s and 1970s we used to ring several hundred each year. Now the only Tree Sparrows left is a small colony at Coursers Farm which is just managing to cling on even the provision of nest boxes and supplementary feeding.

As you enter the car park you are met with a barrage of Tree Sparrow chirruping which is similar to our more familiar House Sparrows but with a slightly different accent. In my opinion Tree Sparrows are quite a neat and tidy bird and unlike their House Sparrow cousins, the sexes are similar.

Now on to the many viewing points on the cliff top to be impressed by the thousands of auks that make it their home at this time of year. Guillemots are well represented but seem quite content to stare at a cliff face all day and are not particularly active.

Whereas Razorbills, their more substantial cousins, also line the ledges but are often closer to the viewpoints and therefore more amenable to close-up group photos.

They are also far more active with several excursions from the cliffs out over the bay and back again. The challenge is to try and get them as they return with wings open and legs dangling.

And then there is everyone's favourite, the Puffins. With a bit of patience it is normally possible to find one or two quite close in........................

..........................but the challenge is to try and get them in flight. They can be quite difficult as they are small, very fast and appear from nowhere, so you need eyes in the back of your head.

Well, what a fabulous start, so now on to look for other sea birds.

WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!!