Sea Bird City

A trip to Bempton today to make sure we got there before some of the birds started leaving.  We had a relaxed start as the weather forecast was poor with rain early, but set to clear later in the afternoon.  As it turned out the forecast was totally wrong and we had a day of beautiful weather.  The only down side was the large numbers of annoying flies.
It had been a couple of years since my last visit to Bempton, so, as we drove into the car park, I was delighted to be back.  On arrival we had a coffee and cake sitting outside the visitor centre, where I amused myself photographing the jackdaws that are always looking for pickings.  I couldn't wait to get down to the cliffs, though, so quickly set off and went south along the path towards Staple Newk; the best spot for photographing the gannet colony.  It was as busy and hectic as normal and the sharp amoniacal tang of guano filled the nostrils.  I was interested to see that there were a couple of large groups of gannets on the cliff top; whether they were nesting there I am not sure, but they were most likely groups of non breeding birds.  The cliffs and cliff arch of Staple Newk were a mass of gannets nesting in precarious positions and I was delighted to see that many had large white downy bundles of chicks.  Kittiwakes were abundant and their onomatopoeic calls filled the air.  I was pleasantly surprised at the numbers of puffins on the cliff and flying backwards and forwards.  None were returning with sand eels, so perhaps the chicks have already fledged and moved out to spend the winter in the North Sea.  I was surprised at the small numbers of fulmars here as Staple Newk is usually a good spot to practice photographing them in flight.
After a while I decide to make my way back towards the north end of the reserve where there are 4 viewing platforms perched above the 300 foot drop.  Here again were kittiwakes and larger numbers of razorbills and guillemots as well as plenty of puffins.  Again I felt the fulmar numbers were down.  Right at the north end of the reserve was another large colony of gannets.  On my way back from this end I was surprised to meet a gannet on the path flapping menacingly towards me.  I soon realised that it was grounded and unable to take off.  A group of people the other side of the bird alerted a warden who radioed for assistance.  Meanwhile I sat on a bench to one side of the path and the bird flapped its way passed me.  I fervently hoped it wouldn't take an aggressive interest in me in its panic as its hefty spearlike bill can cause significant damage.  Eventually a group of wardens arrived and herded the bird to the edge of the cliff so that it could take off.  I was surprised by this event as I didn't realise that a grounded gannet couldn't take off; I wonder how they manage to do so from the surface of the sea?
All in all a good day was had and we repaired to the excellent Seabirds bar and restaurant in Flamborough for a fish and seafood tea.