We love a challenge.  So when Coquest Island threw down the gauntlet to create something better than their snow puffin, we brought together a crack team of snow crafters and set out for the reserve early one morning.

Using inventiveness that Blue Peter would've been proud of, we packed up a gannet making kit consisiting of cereal box cardboard for eyes, orange squash to tint the snow on its head, wool for its black…

Over 100 people followed the stars to Bempton Cliffs for our first ever stargazing event with Scarborough and Ryedale Astronomical Society (SARAS).

Overcast skies and flurries of snow didn't stop the fun and there were breaks in the cloud that allowed visitors to see Jupiter and its moons, Polaris, Orion's Belt and The Plough

The popularlty of the event means there will be more.  Details will be announced on…

Hot on the heels of the popular TV programme, Stargazing Live which returns to the BBC for its third series this week, experts from Scarborough and Ryedale Astronomical Society (S&RAS) will be setting up their telescopes on the cliff tops on Saturday 12January. 

The big skies above the cliffs are particularly dark, being so far away from artificial light sources, making them an ideal spot for viewing the planets and…

Well it might as well be. Thousands of summer plumaged Guillemots on the cliff and covering the sea today, hundreds of Fulmars in with them and a bemused looking female Peregrine, wondering whether it was really summer. Winter en-masse arrivals of summer plumaged Guillemots are not that unusual, but not really expected before Christmas. An amazing spectacle in the winter time.

Better still though, were reports of the…

Regular dog-walker Peter Crompton has been taking his best friends toRSPB Bempton Cliffs twice a day for the past 15 years. And according to his calculations, that means he’s clocked up over 10,000 visits to the nature reserve between Bridlington and Filey.
  

“We never tire of walking along the cliff tops because each trip brings something new,” said Peter.

“The land and sea are ever-changing, so it…

Bright crisp winter days and hunting Short-eared Owls, does it get any better than that. Well, add a Waxwing flying over Bempton village (and landing somewhere near by so it seemed) and two very bold Roe Deer in roadside fields on Cliff Lane and it might just.

On the sea Red-throated Diver and Shags are feeding close in shore in good numbers and the Bird Feeding Garden (BFG for short) is awash with finches and Tree Sparrows…

Singing carols is one of the joys of Christmas.  And all the old favourites were sung beautifully by pupils of Martongate Primary School as the residents of Sewerby village took to the streets to celebrate the start of the festive season.

With head teacher Helen Gee at the helm, the school choir led the group from the Methodist Church to the Christmas Tree outside Sewerby Hall, stopping along the way for readings from…

At this time of year, we don’t just spot robins in the garden or woodland.  They adorn everything from Christmas cards to Christmas cakes.   So why is this little bird associated so strongly with the festive season, particularly as they are resident in this country all year round?

Well, the best explanation seems to be that in the early to mid 1800s, letter carriers or postmen wore a scarlet uniform and became known…

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Long before shops opened on Sunday, they often closed on Wednesday, or at least in the afternoon.

And being, stuck in the middle of the week, Weds has always been a bit of a non-entity of a day.  It’s not near enough to Saturday to allow you to look forward to the whizz-bang of the weekend or close enough to Monday to get revved-up for the week ahead.

So we’ve decided to give Wednesdays a boost with a series…

Autumn and winter is a great time for stretching your legs on the cliff tops. 

It’s not only great exercise, it’s also a wonderful way to escape the pressure of a busy life.  

So whether you’re looking to lose a few pounds or forget a bad day at the office, walking around the reserve with nothing but the sound of the waves crashing or the wind whistling can be truly therapeutic.
 

In fact, walking is the…

Anyone see ‘Dumbo’ on TV the other weekend?   The opening sequence when the storks deliver the baby elephants made me wonder where this connection between the birds and babies came from.

So I had a bit of google and the two commonest strands of thinking on this seem to make perfect sense.

The first is linked with their migratory patterns.   European storks head off to Africa in autumn and return in Spring – a…

It’s a sad fact that the serious economic climate is not only taking its toll on people but also pets.

The RSPCA announced yesterday that there’s been a 65% increase in the number of abandoned pets they’re having to deal with.  And only last week, our local paper, the Bridlington Free Press, had a full page feature asking readers to adopt one of the many cats currently being cared for by the charity…

As part of our 'Time for Bed' autumn activities, we’re making houses for hedgehogs and collecting material to turn into the perfect des res for our prickly friends.

Creating a place for a weary hedgehog to lay its head isn’t too difficult a task -  it just take a little ingenuity and a bit of effort.   So here’s how you can make a simple ‘hogitat’.

Start with a large cardboard box and…

Soft, thick, dripping fog has wrapped up the cliffs for the past few days.   It seems to have even silenced the sea.   The most audible sound is the beat of birds' wings as the fly past startled by your sudden appearance out of the gloom.  

The previous blog has touched on how this has brought masses of birds to the reserve, many of which are waiting to continue their journey south when the fog lifts.

So we thought you…

I like Goldcrests, I like them a lot, so I knew that an early start and arriving at a fog shrouded Bempton (that foggy that at least I think it was Bempton) was going to be worth it, as Dave (Assistant Warden Dave) had reported a reserve full of Goldcrests.

Even before parking the car the road to the reserve was carpeted in disorientated thrushes, mainly Blackbirds, and shortly after wandering towards one of the small…

Back to the Reserve after a few days away and the East Coast is alive with winter thrushes, Goldcrests and migrant finches. Yesterday morning the reserve's Dell (if you're not sure where this is when you get here, just ask the centre staff) was a frenzy of thrushes, including Redwings, Song Thrushes, plenty of Blackbirds, a single Fieldfare and a wary young Ring Ouzel. Goldcrest's were buzzing around and a variety of…

Young Emily Warkup from Skipsea picked a blustery day to raise money for Rockhopper penguins.

Emily was fascinated by an article in her Wildlife Explorer club magazine about the drop in the number of Rockhopper Penguins and decided to step up to help.

So she put her best foot forward and walked around 5.5 miles between the Flamborough headland and the reserve with the aim of raising funds to help the RSPB investigate…

Mum, Tracy Hill, sent us this fab photo of Catherine, Amy and Harmony taking a good look around the reserve.

Armed with their back packs they were ready for anything as they started out on their cliff-top adventure.

Tracy said, 'The girls are Wildlife Explorers already, but were over the moon when they got the rucksacks to carry containing the binoculars and books''.

And although  two and a half year old Harmony…

The sunniest of days welcomed visitors to Bridlington Spa for the first International Nature Tourism Conference on 3^rd- 4^thOctober.

Those involved in the nature tourism industry, from as far afield as Portugal and Finland, came to East Yorkshire to discuss how this activity can help both the local economy as well as wildlife.  

Expert speakers also came from far and wide - statisticians from Leeds Metropolitan University…

Just for the record, it didn’t happen here at Bempton Cliffs.

And it’s not quite as weird as it sounds if you also know that a group of us were listening to the RSPB’s Head of European Operations, Norbert Schaffer, when the comment was made. And if it doesn’t sound weird at all, you probably already know something about the plight of Indian vultures.

Dr Schaffer enlightened us by explaining that…

Aside from spectacular seabirds, there's a lot to be said for an East Coast location for a reserve, especially in autumn. Today was a good day to be nearby, which I, of course, wasn't.

First came a report of a Red-breasted Flycatcher in the Dell, seen by a few lucky people and at the same time a Brambling joined the mass of other finches and Tree Sparrows in the feeding station. Later in the day one or two Yellow…

A text from Dave (Reserve Warden) reported a Merlin over the entrance road today. Fields around here are now stubble and so plenty of larks and pipits, ideal Merlin hunting grounds, but they never hang around for long, so Dave was lucky indeed. Other highlights over the last few days have included a Black Redstart, a Whinchat and a Wheatear. Migrant Goldcrests can be heard calling around the car park and it would be difficult…

If you have time after your visit to Bempton Cliffs, it’s worth stopping off at the village church, St Michael’s, to have a look at the fabulous stained glass window directly opposite the entrance. 

It’s dedicated to the memory of Arthur Moore, who was killed in action in France in 1916.  Annie, Jane and Maud, his sisters, had it installed in 1962 and it shows St Francis feeding the birds in a scene set…

Autumn has got off to quite an amazing start. After a Pied Flycatcher in the small woodland behind the visitor centre yesterday (this is often referred to as "Pallas Patch") we knew migration was underway, but then think of the bird you might least expect to find sat on a bench and you've got it. Yep, today a Nightjar was found sat on a bench in the Dell! It is incredible what they think they are camouflaged…

 You’ll be pleased to know that the fine art of chucking sticky buds is alive and sticking.

You might have a different name for them but sticky buds are what we always call the seeds of the burdock plant. And there are plenty of them at the moment on the reserve.

Don’t know how true this is, but Wiki says, that Swiss inventor George de Mestral became curious about the seeds after they had attached themselves to…