The Peregrine Children

The local Peregrine Family is very busy at present with the adults constantly catching prey for the young ones. The adults have produced 4 young this year and two have fledged and the other two where very close in fledging. Just watching the young Peregrines is an amazing sight, as they sit on the cliff ledges they are forever vigilant always looking up in the sky and watching the Kittiwakes, Pigeons and Rock Pipits that are present on the cliff.

I hope to take another look in a few days time to see if all four young birds are patrolling the cliff with the adults teaching them how to hunt.

Bass Rock 2009 - Part 1

BIRDGUIDES - PHOTO OF THE WEEK

11.06.09 - 18.06.09

Well would you credit it! Just a few days after posting the above image on my blog and uploading it to the Birdguides Image Library I was awarded my first "Photo of the week". Many thanks to the Birdguides panel for choosing my Gannet image as POTW.

Bass Rock - words are hard to describe this amazing place! Sir David Attenborough once described it as "One of the wildlife wonders of the world", Chris Packham voted the Bass as No 1 in "Nature's Top 40". Home to 150,000 gannets, you have to really visit this place in the flesh to experience the amazing site, smell and noise of this incredible natural wonder.

The trip over to the Bass Rock is organised by the Scottish Seabird Centre, the centre itself is very impressive, please take a visit. Based in the town of "North Berwick", the Scottish Seabird Centre has a Discovery Centre, Shop and Cafe (great food) and there is an admission charge to take a look in the Discovery Centre (well worth a look around), this is where all the webcams are situated sending images back from Bass Rock, Isle of May and Fidra.

Landing and spending time on the rock is just incredible, how could you possibly top that? On your return trip back from the rock you will experience what I think is the most incredible wildlife spectacle you could possibly experience in your lifetime, is the chumming of the gannets. Fish bits are thrown over board and it only takes a matter of a few minutes before you have diving gannets within a couple of feet from the boat side - unbelievable. If you are contemplating on taking a trip over to the Bass Rock the only advice I could give to you is - JUST DO IT!

Bass Rock 2009 - Part 2 coming soon........

Bempton In May

Guillemot

Razorbill

Puffin

Razorbill

Gannet

Fulmar

Early May at Bempton is a magical time, the cliffs are starting to get crowded and the public's favourite, the Puffin, is starting to arrive in good numbers. Some of the Gannets are already sat on their egg and Razorbills, Guillemots, Puffins and Kittiwakes are courting and even mating.

The day that I took the above images I had a crazy day of weather. I got to Bempton for 5.15am, watched the sunrise (incredible) the light was good, then it clouded over and in came the rain. The rain stopped and then came along the wind, the wind stopped and the clouds cleared and then the sun came back out, then the light was to harsh and basically it was like that most of the morning until eventually the weather did settle down and the day become a good one.

I will be doing a lot more early mornings at Bempton this month so be prepared to see plenty of posts on my blog from what I truly feel is one of nature's wonders of the world - just an incredible place.

Back At Bempton

Razorbill

Puffin

Gannet

I will have to apologise now for the amount of Bempton posts that I will be submitting this year! This will be my first full season at Bempton as a volunteer and I am just starting to find the hot spots on the cliffs for photography.

The cliffs are filling up now with large numbers of Gannet, Razorbill, Guillemot, Kittiwake and Fulmar. Puffins are slowly creeping back in small number, but give it a few more weeks and we  will see more and more of our colourful friends arriving. 

Heron City

Took a trip to my local Heronry to see what stage the nests where at and found that 4 birds where already sat on their large nests. As I approached the Heronry I noticed one bird flying above making its way from the area so when I got to the place that I thought would be ideal for some flight shots I waited for this bird to return.

Forty five minutes later I could see the bird returning in the distance and it was just a matter of time before the Heron passed my lens so I could snap the above images. I will definitely return to the Heronry in a few weeks time once the chicks have hatched and when there will be a lot more activity for me to capture.

Seabird Central

RSPB Bempton Cliffs is heating up with large numbers of Gannets on the cliffs as well as Kittiwake and Fulmar. Puffins have arrived and at present they occasionally visit the cliffs for a while before going back out to sea. Both Guillemot and Razorbill have also been on and off the cliffs but can be seen in large rafts on the sea. It will not be long now before the cliffs are crammed packed with seabirds, so if you are thinking of visiting Bempton soon you will not be disappointed.

I am a volunteer at Bempton manning the view points most Saturdays, so if you plan to pop in on a Saturday please feel free to say hello.

Snow Bunting

A pair of Snow Buntings dropped in to RSPB Bempton Cliffs this weekend and the male bird was just outstanding. Just not quite full summer plumage missing its black bill but I couldn't complain it was a true little gem of a bird.

The female was present also but lacking the incredible plumage of the male but still a beauty to look at. This was my first Snow Bunting in a very close summer plumage and as you can see from the images above - what a cracker!