East Coast Visit

Last weekend I took a bit of time out and my husband and I went to the East Coast. We finished work early on Friday, and had a pleasant drive out to Scarborough with the roof down. After checking in at the hotel, we had a meal at the local pub, then went to the Spa complex for an Amy MacDonald concert.  The warm up act was a guy called Martin from Sunderland: The Lake Poets. His song "Edinburgh" is my favorite in a long time! A very talented young man - you should definitely check out his music.

The next day, we drove down the coast and visited a couple of nature spots. Although I spent all my childhood summers at Scarborough and often visited other places up the coast, I have never visited the area around Flamborough. The first stop was the RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs. The weather was beautiful, and we got there before it got too hot. We wandered up and down the cliffs looking for puffins. They were being quite elusive, but I did manage to get some pictures. 

I had the zoom lens on my camera, and got some good shots of bees and butterflies as well as the sea birds. In fact, when I got home and looked at the photos on the computer, they were much more interesting than I thought ... I managed to photograph some young birds in nests that I didn't even realise were there!

I also managed to capture this young gannet, with the distinctive ink spot pattern on its wings, and beautiful facial markings.

Next we made a quick stop at North Landing, near Flamborough, just a few miles down the coast. I had a wander along with cliffs, which are part of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve, and took some more photos.

After lunch at the cafe at the top of the slipway, we set off home, and I managed a spot of sunbathing in the car with the roof down and my shades on. Very relaxing! A few enjoyable hours were spent in the evening sorting through my photos and submitting sightings to i-spot. I started using that website when I did the OU's Neighbourhood Nature course, and have just kept up with it as the process of logging things helps me remember species names and acts as a record and reminder too.

I even submitted a few photos to the Society of Biology competition "Feeding Life".  I don't think they are nearly good enough to win, but you don't know if you don't try.

I got an email from the CIEEM about an event running at Flamborough in early September. It sounds like a good opportunity to practice species identification and surveying, and I now know its a lovely part of the world, so I am going to sign up.  Another practical event to look forward to.