Bempton Cliffs walk - Bempton RSPB - puffin

Route: Bempton Cliffs

Area: East Yorkshire

Date of walk: 13th July 2021

Walkers: Andrew and Gilly

Distance: 2.8 miles

Weather: Cloudy but bright

Bempton Cliffs is billed as ‘the best place in England to see, hear and smell seabirds’. It’s a spectacular place, especially at this time of year when sea birds nest here in their thousands. Between April and August each year, almost quarter of a million seabirds come to Bempton and make the cliffs come alive. The RSPB have provided various viewing points from which to see the non-stop action

Puffins, gannets, kittiwake, guillemot and razorbill are everywhere, nesting in every crook and cranny along the huge cliff face. It’s fascinating to watch them jostling for position, warding off predators, bringing food to the nests and generally leading their very busy lives

In addition to the usual suspects, we also hoped to see an exceptionally rare visitor – a black browed albatross which has been spotted here, the only one in the northern hemisphere. It had been blown off its course and unable to return to its usual home in the South Atlantic. In the event, we learned from the helpful RSPB volunteers that the albatross had been seen today but was out at sea fishing for its supper

We parked by the new RSPB Visitor Centre and walked along the path to the edge of the cliffs, visiting each of the viewing stations in turn. The stations are well positioned, perched on the top of the cliffs and giving wonderful close up sightings of the seabirds, including the irresistible puffin. A couple of hours seemed like a couple of minutes, there was so much to see

For a unique view of Bempton Cliffs from the sea follow the link to the ‘Glorious Gannet Cruise‘. For other walks here, visit my Find Walks page and enter the name in the ‘Search site’ box

Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)