It's been another interesting weekend here at Bempton Cliffs. As I was driving off the reserve on Friday evening I spotted a small group of 3 curlews flying inland over the field on my right. A little closer to home I saw a buzzard circling, and then making it’s way south, and this morning when I arrived at work I was bombarded with lots of stories and sightings.
I think I’ll start with one from Michael Wilson, one of our reserve information assistants.
“After work on Saturday I watched a great skua just off Grandstand for about 30 minutes. It was with a small group of gulls eating floating carrion. Seemed to be getting its own way. I first spotted it because I saw something acting a bit differently than normal. Thought it was a good spot as you normally just get distant glimpses of them flying past!”
He added that the carrion appeared to be a gannet, which would be a challenge for the great skua to bring down, but not an impossibility. Great skuas are one of the biggest bullies of the seabird world and frequently steal fish off other species as well as directly attacking and killing them for food.
The next sighting I was told of was that of 10 great black backed gulls, also feeding on the gannet in the water near Grandstand. There’s a chance that they could have been responsible for the death instead of the skua, as they are predatory as well as scavengers. It is not surprising that these large gulls and skuas are being attracted to the cliffs at Bempton because we still have a massive colony of thousands of gannets who are raising young. The good point that comes out of this is that one gannet could provide sustenance for such a large number of birds, even if they are bullies!
Leaving the cliffs for a moment, two other large, predatory birds were spotted on the reserve at the weekend. The first was a marsh harrier, which was reported during the week and then confirmed on Saturday and the second was a common buzzard, which was reported by Nick Turver to have spent a few hours at Jubilee. As well as this the peregrines were up to their usual tricks all the way along the reserve.
Other wildlife gracing Bempton Cliffs with its presence recently includes a wide range of butterflies (see our sightings board for details), a cheeky group of weasels, the confused redwing that’s been with us all summer and a lone spotted flycatcher. The variety of nature we see on our reserve is just amazing and we know that what we actually spot is just the tip of the iceberg.
If you haven’t had chance to visit Bempton yet, don’t worry that you’ve missed the main seabird breeding season, there’s still loads to see, hear and smell. We really appreciate hearing your tales and sightings in the visitor centre too, but it does make us jealous that we’re not outside to see it ourselves!
Rachael Tulloch (Warden Intern, RSPB Fairburn Ings)