The reserve has gone all fluffy all of sudden and chicks are springing up all over the cliffs. This update from Tom, of our seabird monitoring team, explains why he in particular thinks the reserve is a truly awww-some place right now.
With a title as scholarly as ‘seabird researcher’, I feel I should bring a certain amount of scientific objectivity to my work; but as detached as I try to be, I could not prevent a heartfelt “aww” from escaping my lips the first time I saw a chick.
After almost a month of sitting on an egg and barely moving, the guillemot I was watching seemed unusually active, fidgeting and frequently looking down at something I couldn’t see. Then suddenly the adult stepped to the side and there it was, sat nonchalantly on the rock – a chick.
Now, despite the spring that never sprung and the unprecedented slow start to the season, chicks are appearing en masse. With every monitoring session we see fewer eggs and more chicks amongst the thousands of seabirds on our cliffs.
Razorbill Ma and Pa with their young 'un
My personal favourites are the razorbill chicks – small and grey, with a dark beak and coal-black eyes, they look more like a plush toy than a living creature. As they grow their feathers become black and they look more like winter-plumaged adults. Guillemot chicks are much darker, resembling little balls of soot.
Guillemot senior with junior
Both razorbill and guillemot chicks only hang around for a couple of weeks, and are still not fully developed when they fledge. When it is time for them to leave they leap from the cliff and half-fall-half-bounce to the ocean below (they can be as young as 15 days old when they jump).
Auk chicks have been appearing for well over 15 days now, and with the number of older chicks growing by the day it can’t be long before the fledging begins. There really is no better time to visit Bempton Cliffs and search for these undeniably adorable animals.