I have a tendency to leave things til the last minute. I fill up the car only when the little petrol pump light appears. I replenish the milk in the fridge when there’s only enough in the bottle to dampen my muesli. So typically, I only just managed to scrape on to the final Puffin and Gannet cruise of this season.
The downside to this means that everyone’s already said everything there is to say about sailing across Bridlington Bay and around the headland and has photographed in exceptional detail just about every seabird that’s ever flapped a wing in the vicinity of Bempton Cliffs.
So this blog will not wax lyrical about puffins or gannets or any other species. Neither will it contain images of seabirds that could grace an art gallery wall. This blog will simply say ‘thanks a million’ to the amazing volunteers from the local East Riding RSPB group who’ve welcomed almost a thousand passengers aboard the Yorkshire Belle over the past two and a half months,
So here goes for a million thank yous:
1. Thanks for changing the message on the booking line three times in a day as weather conditions threatened to scupper things. You must’ve had better things to do.
2. Thanks for explaining where the word scupper comes from during the trip.
3. Thanks for making the fog lift so the Yorkshire Belle could sail. (I accept there may have been a greater power at work here but I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt)
4. Thanks for letting me see Holy Trinity church with its steeple sliced off like the top of an egg.
5. Thanks for lending me a pair of binoculars. (Doh!)
6. Thanks for introducing us to the ‘clock system’ used on board to pinpoint sightings so we didn’t miss the undulating lines of common scoters at 3 o clock or those of guillemots at 1 o’clock.
7.Thanks for shouting to Andrew and Brett who were seawatching on the tip of Flamborough Head and getting them to give us a wave. I’m assuming you were using the microphone at the time.
8. Thanks for pointing our puffin after puffin after puffin after puffin. (Honestly, there were loads of them).
9. Thanks for spotting the fin of a harbour porpoise even if I didn’t.
10. Thanks for getting us so close to the cliffs that I had to change my distance glasses for reading ones.
11. Thanks for showing us not just one arch at Elephant Rock but two.
12. Thanks for letting me see the splendour of a sky full of gannets.
13. Thanks for giving the real photographers on board every opportunity to capture images that would look great on our Facebook page. (RSPB North Yorks and East Riding).
14. Thanks for making the sun come out eventually. (See Thanks No.3).
15. Thanks for revealing just how dramatic the reserve’s cliff edge viewing platforms are as they teeter a neck straining 400 feet above us. (Those tiny lines on the far right cliff top are people. Amazing or what.)
16. Thanks for selling raffle tickets, pin badges and postcards on board to raise funds for RSPB Bempton Cliffs.
17. Thanks for not laughing too much when someone complained about the ‘Macadamia’ handwash in the toilets. Nut allergies should be taken seriously.
18. Thanks for highlighting the strange geological fault near Staple Neuk where the chalk looks like it’s been attacked with a bacon slicer .
19. Thanks for hanging on to the shipwreck map in a very stiff breeze. There are enough sunken vessels in the bay and beyond to keep Time Team busy ‘til the end of time.
.
21. Thanks for letting Scruffy sail with us.
22. Thanks for running these cruises for over 25 years.
Ok, so only another 999, 978 thank yous to go. But I reckon these should really come from the seabirds themselves because these cruises provide a vital source of income that helps us continue our conservation work on the cliff.
Therefore, if you multiply a quarter of a million seabirds by a quarter of a century you get…well, a lot more than a million. So job done. Thank goodness for that.
Skua and Shearwater Cruises run throughout September. For more info/booking details call 01262 422211.