Tuesday 23 June 2020

Lockdown Day 92-Trip to the seaside-Part 2

In yesterday's blog I recounted the trip we made on Monday to Flamborough for a socially distanced trip to the seaside.

Having heard today about the relaxation of lockdown rules and social distancing we are very glad we were able to go this week as it will be the case that there will be so many more people there over the next month or two and probably not much social distancing going on, especially once people have had a few drinks in seafront bars and restaurants. Yes, we have to get back to normal living eventually, but this seems too much relaxation of the rules, and too soon given the number of cases and continuing number of deaths from Covid-19.

Anyway, as promised here are a few more pictures I took of seabirds on the cliffs at North Landing, Flamborough.


Guillemot striking a pose! 


Kittiwake chick still quite young and very fluffy!


Razorbill and a growing up chick, starting to get flight feathers. 

The Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) nest on such precarious ledges and there were a few broken eggs at the foot of the cliffs which suggest not all nest sites are that secure! The Razorbills (Alca torda) were often gathered in large groups and one Razorbill was determined that the Puffins (Fratercula arctica) would not steal its patch of cliff! There were plenty of Guillemots (Uria aalge) out at sea but most of them seemed to be nesting further round from where we could see from the cove. Further up the coast is Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve which has one of the largest colonies of Gannets (Sula bassana)  in the UK. There are at least 22000 Gannets on the cliffs around Bempton, and I remember going there in the late 1970s/early 1980s as a child when the number was just in the hundreds, this has been an enormous success story for the RSPB management of the reserve. 



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