Hello everyone! I’ll cut right to it, because we have BIG NEWS! A little over a week ago, one of our membership team specialists spotted something a bit strange on one of our visitor’s centre live cameras... it’s...
Young puffin putting in a cheeky appearance on one of our live cams! Photo by Jaime
...a PUFFLING!
Often, visitors coming to the cliffs to see their first puffins marvel at how small they are, and it’s easy if you’ve not seen them before to think that those on the cliffs must be young! But the fact is, adult puffins really are that tiny. The young themselves stay in their nests in the many cracks, holes, and crevices in the cliffs, and generally don’t come out until they’re ready to fledge and head far out to sea – which happens under the safe cover of darkness. Seeing a young puffin (or ‘puffling’ as they are called) is a very rare treat indeed, with many of our long-term volunteers never having seen even one in their many years of service. By the time they show themselves they’re roughly the same size as their parents, and more or less ready to leave!
A few days later, on Wednesday, one of our viewpoint volunteers spotted another through a telescope off Bartlett Nab viewpoint.
Digiscope of three adult puffins and one puffling off Bartlett Nab viewpoint, spotted by volunteer Lee W. Photo by Jaime.
Two puffling sightings in a week is a very sure sign that our young puffins are reaching the age where they’re leaving the cliffs – and their parents won’t be far behind, as puffins truly are seabirds, and live most of the year at sea. What does this mean for us? Well, it means...
For those of us still hoping to glimpse a puffin, best get to the cliffs within the next week or two – very soon, they’ll all be gone!
The puffins will be flying away very soon, hurry to the cliffs to catch a last glimpse! Photo by Jaime.
Of course, some of our other residents and their young will be with us quite a while yet, such as our incredible gannets and fulmars, as well as our grassland birds, insects, mammals, and more – there’s no shortage of things to see and new clifftop activities are in the works for later summer.
Gannet and chick off Jubilee Corner viewpoint. Photo by Jaime.
On the recent sightings front, and to give you an idea of what’s around at the moment, the reserve has been all aflutter with a variety of insects: narrow-banded 5-spot burnett moths; small tortoiseshell, red admiral, ringlet, small copper, and cabbage white butterflies; scorpionflies (not dangerous as they sound – they take their name from the male’s long, curled thorax, but don’t sting or bite!); and a variety of shield bugs are all to be found without trouble.
Shield bug found by education volunteer Peter N. Photo by Jaime.
For our ornithologists, the tree sparrows (including some juveniles), linnets, corn and reed buntings, sedge warblers, wagtails, and whitethroats have all been seen almost daily in the reserve’s fields and hedgerows. Our peregrines have not been spotted in the last few days, but a pair were seen near Staple Newk viewpoint on 1 July, and a single one the following day in the same place. On Saturday 5 July, a visitor reported a male cuckoo on Bempton Lane leading up to the reserve, as well as a great skua and barn owl near Jubilee viewpoint. On 7 July one of our volunteers spotted a moorhen, and on Tuesday 8 July both a lone curlew and a marsh harrier were to be seen flying over the reserve near RAF Bempton.
Photo by Jaime.
Twice in the past week, on Wednesday 2 July and again on Tuesday 8 July, gannet feeding frenzies were witnessed from the cliffs. Typically, these birds feed quite far out indeed, averaging approximately 150km round-trip on a food run. Yesterday, they were feeding so close to the cliffs, they could be seen without binoculars from all viewpoints making their amazing plunge-dives into the sea. Unlike many of our birds, gannets hunt from the air, spotting fish with their keen eyesight, and then making a sharp dive, hitting the water at up to 60mph to catch their prey! The ways these birds have adapted are just remarkable, and if you get a chance to see them feed, I highly recommend it! The huge groups of feeding gannets paired with a handful of equally huge rafts of our smallest seabirds, the kittiwakes, feeding by the cliff bottoms yesterday suggest that there must be an abundance of fish of a variety of sizes in the area, which may create ideal conditions for attracting many of our sea mammals. We’re still having fairly regular reports of harbour porpoises and grey seals off the cliffs, and while we’ve still not spotted one, the occasional reports of minke whales in the area continue to come in, so we’re certainly watching carefully!
To finish out the update, last time, I said we’d have a little mystery. In the last week or two, several astute visitors have noted that there seem to be a lot of butterfly wings strewn along the reserve’s paths and trails. What’s going on?
Wings on the trail... where has their owner gone? Photo by Jaime.
As you can see, they’re often found in pairs or small groups, and all missing their owners! So I did a little asking around. The general agreement seems to be that they’re being predated upon. Manager Keith C. suggested the culprit might be bats. Warden Dave A. suggested birds. In any case, it turns out that butterflies are actually rather nutritious – but only their meaty bits! Both bats and birds such as swifts and swallows will catch butterflies if they can, and eat the healthy bits whilst still in flight, dropping only the wings as they pass. It’s an unfortunate story for the butterflies, but good for the bats and birds, not to mention for any of us who’d like to get a closer look at the intricate patterns on the different butterflies’ wings!
That's it for this update, see you again soon!