This time of year is so exciting at Bempton Cliffs! We have chicks everywhere and every time I catch sight of one I can't help but feel warm and fuzzy inside. In the last week or two we have started to spot the auk chicks huddled with their parents on their tiny ledges. I didn't know this, but auk chicks hatch at quite a good size, as they leave the nest after just 2 and a half weeks and need to be big enough to do so. When they leave the nest they jump down to the sea, which is where they get the name 'jumplings' from. Their flight feathers take another 4 weeks to fully form, so until then they sit on the sea and continue to be fed by the male. In this picture you can get an idea of the size of a guillemot chick, which still has a week or so left before it is ready to fledge.
Guillemot and chick - Image by Mark Smales.The gannets have a much wider window of opportunity when it comes to laying their eggs. The first gannets start returning to the cliffs in January, and the last gannets will leave in October. We have many gannet chicks on the cliffs at the moment, and many more to come! So, if you've visited us recently and seen the many different stages of gannet chicks on the cliffs, that's why! Pair 33's chick was the first to hatch at the beginning of May, so will be the biggest by far, but it still has 6-8 weeks left in the nest before it will be ready to fledge. The gannet chick pictured below is still small enough to sit safe and warm under the adult. Isn't it cute?!Gannet with chick - Image by Kevin GroocockWhile I have been writing this post my e-mail pinged with this gorgeous photo fresh from the cliffs of a kittiwake with its chicks. This is our first sighting of kittiwake chicks this year at Bempton Cliffs, so it definitely needed a mention! I've been watching in awe for weeks as large numbers of kittiwakes have been gathering nesting materials from a pond across the fields near Jubilee Corner, and then flying back over visitors' heads to their nests on the cliffs. That all stopped about 3 weeks ago and now I know why :-)I told you it was an exciting time to be here!Image by Michael Babcock
RECENT SIGHTINGS
The team here at Bempton are really efficient with updating our recent sightings board, so here is what we've seen around the reserve lately.
Kestrel, barnacle geese x 4 flying north, sandwich tern flying south past Grandstand, painted lady butterfly, sparrowhawk (female), peregrine falcon, corn bunting, reed bunting, linnet, white throat, tree sparrow, barn owl, turtle dove, spoonbill, small copper butterfly, yellow wagtail, canada geese x 40 flying by Bartlett Nab. Lastly in the Dell there has been a blackcap, lesser white throat x2 and a moorhen with 3 one week old chicks.