Hi
On Thursday, we had another wander along the cliffs. This time we were checking to see if any puffins had returned to the cliffs. We try and do this fairly regularly at this time of year, to help out Dr Mike Harries from the Centre of Hyrdology and Ecology (CEH) Mike has studied seabirds, particularly puffins for many years and he is interested to know whether puffins are returning earlier to their breeding grounds than they used to. We didn't see any puffins but it was still a great walk. Many fulmar pairs were on the cliffs, looking very "together" and there were small groups of guillemots flying past at sea, but none on the cliffs. We also had good sightings of a small group of roe deer and a fox in the arable fields next to the cliff top. We also checked out the badger sett which has appeared in recent years on the cliff and the badgers are still in residence. It would be nice to include a bit of badger watching in our programme of summer events at the reserve this year. There were also a few grey seals around and a single common seal.
We also wanted to check the progress of our new observation shelter under construction on the cliff top. We have some photos and will upload these on Monday. It's coming along very nicely, it looks fairly dramatic, as it is only the basic building bricks in situ at present Its also wrapped in scaffolding. However the builders have just started on the outer stone walls, which will give it a natural appearance. Work is on schedule for a completion date of early April.
Vicky