... and it's taken a step closer to becoming a reality.

Thanks to a wonderful award of £33,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, we can now start to develop our exciting plans for a seabird centre at Bempton Cliffs. This means we will be able to apply for a full grant in the future.

Our vision is that our internationally-important seabird reserve will become a year-round nature tourism destination and will play a key part in the economic regeneration of the Yorkshire coast.

Plans include the extension of the existing visitor centre into the seabird centre, with dedicated space for learning opportunities for both local communities and visitors. We will also be looking to build teams of live interpreters, seabird researchers and volunteers to help us do so much more at this amazing place

We already know that around 65,000 visitors every year enjoy what Bempton has to offer - whether that's the awesome seabird spectacle, or the equally breath-taking landscape in autumn and winter. By improving facilities for visitors, we want to make those visits even more memorable. And we also want to encourage people from all walks of life to experience the splendour that is England’s largest seabird colony.

This wonderful support from HLF gives us the funding we need to take our next steps towards achieving our dream.

So, huge thanks to those lovely people at  HLF.

Fiona Spiers, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund Yorkshire and the Humber, said:  “We look forward in due course to receiving the full application for this project that aims to protect the seabird colony at Bempton Cliffs while giving more people the opportunity to marvel at and learn more about it.”