Join the Club!

As I’m sure many of you who live on the coast (or who were booked onto one of our seabird cruises) will know, last weekend was a windy one! This can be both good and bad for the seabirds here at Bempton Cliffs. Gannets fare well in these windier conditions and if you were lucky enough to visit us in the past week or so, you might have come across the ‘youth club’, our motley, but growing, collection of juvenile birds who sometimes like to hang out between the New Roll Up and Staple Newk viewpoints. These birds are the teenagers of the gannet world and, as you can imagine, like to cause a bit of havoc…

We have seen the usual bickering and squabbling over the best seats on the cliff edge in the form of vicious pecking, as well as the early stages of new romances between birds that form strong pair bonds later in life. Vandalism has also been observed in the form of grass pulling, giving the grass a slightly bald appearance. This behavior is likely to stem from the birds’ desire to practice nest building before the actual crunch time comes.

We are very lucky here at Bempton to have such a close view of this aspect of gannet behavior. On the days where the wind gusts at its strongest, the developing aerial expertise of these birds can be seen at incredibly close quarters and can provide many a good photograph for our visitors. All that we ask is that these youngsters be allowed their personal space, which, as any parent knows, is vital to keeping the kids sweet!

Unfortunately, what’s good for one species is not always good for another. Over the weekend a number of kittiwake chicks were lifted out of their nests by the strong northerly gusts and deposited on the cliff top. Fortunately, one of our volunteers was on hand to rescue these tiny creatures and carry them back to the visitor centre where a local bird rescue expert came to collect them.

At the last report, these chicks were said to be doing well and even eating their rescuer “out of house and home”. Eventually these young birds will be released back onto the same stretch of cliff top where they were found, which is a positive outcome and an exciting prospect for the coming month. Let’s hope for slightly calmer conditions in the weeks to come so that all of our seabird chicks get a chance to mature a little before the next set of stormy weather!

(Above photo kindly donated by Nikki Thurston)

In other news, the reserve is currently boasting a healthy crop of northern marsh orchids, which can be seen best to the right  of the path on the way down to the two most southerly of the five viewpoints (New Roll Up and Staple Newk).