May ‘22’ Road Trip - Day 2 (Chesterfield to East Yorkshire)

After an evening in Chesterfield, a bright dry and warm morning sent me 10 miles west of the city to an area I have visited before, Beeley Moor above Chatsworth House. The first target species was the magnificent Red Grouse but I only had an hour to spend as I was hoping to get to Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire by midday.

A few steps onto the open more after climbing over the dry stone stile, a Wheatear appeared. The moor looked flattened and less alive when I last visited in Autumn. The heather was not in bloom and the bracken and sturdy grasses had no new growth after the winter and I wondered what else had suffered.

I didn’t have to wait long for an answer, as less than 50 paces further a Meadow pipit emerged from the heather and surveyed the landscape before flitting off to another tuft, to be replaced by Skylarks.

Another 50 paces and the alarming call of a Red grouse sounded and a squabble emerged from the moor ahead of me. A Raven led, followed by the futile chase of a Red Grouse in an attempt to reclaim its chick, which the corvid had seized. It’s a tough old world but each has to survive. It all happened in a flash. There wasn’t time to be sad but rather to digest what had happened.

The Raven flew off but another bird waited nearby, perhaps sensing more opportunities.

Having achieved my objective and sensing few more photographic opportunities in the short term, it was heads down and a speedy course was set for coastal East Yorkshire but not before passing a Curlew that was kerbside and unbothered by the car’s presence. Vehicles make such good hides but their only drawback is you rarely get the opportunity for an impromptu stop, when an opportunity arises and even rarer to have equipment to hand to capture the moment adequately. This shot was courtesy of my wife’s IPhone.

Well it was near enough midday when we arrived at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, the best place in the country to see a Gannet colony at close quarters.

There are about 11,000 breeding pairs on the 400 foot limestone cliffs along with the many other sea bird species.

These include Razorbills, Guillemots, Fulmars, Kittiwakes and Puffins.

Sadly, Puffins are in decline as their main food source, sandeels, have been fished out or are moving too far north. The little bit of good news is that beam trawlers are currently banned from the Dogger fishing area of the North Sea in an attempt to encourage their recovery.

Other birds are regularly seen over the cliffs, and this day was no exception, with the occasional Herring gull, Jackdaw and good supply of feral pigeons, which I am assured are not Rock doves, despite carrying the plumage.

However, their numbers are kept in check by the presence of Peregrine Falcons. This female was on her second visit of the day and probably feeding the future ‘cliff rangers’.

However, the quest of the visit was to see ‘Albie’, a Black Browed albatross, which has been visiting the cliffs here for the last 3 years. I had been fortunate to see ‘Albie’ a month ago with my good pal, Rick but my wife, Lyn and I had missed it on our previous visits, the first year by only one day. Albie has been here since March, the earliest visit so far and obviously the mating urge is growing stronger.

(Photo taken last month)

Normally resident in the South Pacific, there is a remote possibility that Albie will find a partner here but as they usually are attracted by Gannet colonies in their normal part of the world, like the Falklands, Bempton offers the best likely venue.

But alas, today we were not lucky! Albie was regularly visiting the cliffs but not whilst we were atop the platforms.

I did see it at distance but only with the help of a fellow birder with a scope, about a mile out in the sea but this was of little consolation.

However, there was lots to be in awe of for the rest of the afternoon. Where else can you get up close and personal with normally ocean going specialists like the auks, Fulmars and Gannets?