Flamborough Head

Yesterday I suddenly realised that I hadn't seen any seabirds this year and as Flamborough is just 40 minutes away I drove there whilst the weather was acceptable. I didn't see anything unexpected but it was nice to watch large numbers of Kittiwakes, Gannets, Puffins, Razorbills and Guillemots go about their business.

Lots of Gannets were flying past, both north and south with quite a number of juveniles amongst the flocks. Kittiwakes were the most numerous with better numbers of juveniles fledging than in the previous few years when the breeding season was a massive failure. Below is a picture of Kittiwakes nesting on one of the cliffs.

Whilst watching these a single Fulmar flew past as did a pair of noisy Sandwich Terns. Good numbers of House Martins and Swifts were feeding in the air and a couple of Skylarks were in aerial song. On the rocks below the cliffs were large numbers of gulls; Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull and a single Black-headed Gull along with a few Oystercatchers and a lone Redshank.

I took a walk around some of the farmland adjacent to the cliffs where I came across a Pied Wagtail, a Wren, a male Reed Bunting, 2 Meadow Pipits and a Coot on a farm pond. This farmland is being managed for wildlife and there were loads of nice flowers in the field margins including piles of Kidney Vetch, pictured below.