intellectual
Well-known member
Hello,
Just for a change thought I would have a trip to the side of the sea, rather than taking in local reserves etc. Took one of my regular birding buddies with me, he doubled up as navigator.
Usually go via Beverley, today I decided to go via Hull on the A63, to link up with the A165. All was going well till we reached the end of the A63. Now I could have missed the sign saying turn off for Bridlington, but I'm sure I didn't. All of a sudden we was heading for Withernsea according to the road signs. Asked the "navigator" if I was going in the right direction, WELL, I think not, he replied. I said to him we may just finish up at Spurn, to which we both smiled. There was only one thing to do and that was pull up, I consulted the map, and decided to go back and turn off at Preston - a small village not too far away. To cut a long story short, I got lost again because I missed a right turn, it didn't say on the sign that the road would lead me to the A165, so naturally went straight past. About half a mile further on I did a full sweep of a mini roundabout and turned back. By this time I was not an happy guy. As I was going back I noticed a large road sign, reading it, it said next turning left would lead to the A165, YIPPEE!! Now when I drove past that road sign from the other way, it made no mention of the A165, am I supposed to be psychic!!
We eventually reached our destination at quart to twelve, the journey from Sunny Scunny had taken two hours, two long hours.
The car park was almost full, but not that full I couldn't find a place. We had a drink and a bite to eat before making our way to the cliff top. While sat at one of the picnic tables a Chaffinch flew on to the table to get a pice of my sandwich, it was only about twelve inches from us, that was a treat.
As we went down the path we passed lots of people coming back from seeing what can only be described as a spectacular scene. We soon found our way to join the throng of people watching thousands upon thousands of seabirds. We were safely standing behind the wooden fencing.
We've been to Bempton before, but today there was more birds than last time two years ago. The sea, sky and cliffs was alive with birds, never have I seen so many birds in such a short distance. The sea was choppy as a fairly strong wind was blowing towards us. There were rafts of Kittiwakes with the best part of hundreds in each one. I could go on, but I daresay most people have experienced Bempton for themselves.
This is the species of birds we saw both waterbirds and those inland: Reed Bunting, Gannet, Linnet, Puffin, Kittiwake, Guillemot, Herring Gull, Rock Dove, Razorbill, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Martin, Crow, Jackdaw, Wood PIgeon, House Sparrow, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and Skylark. One bird my buddy saw and I didn't was a Little Auk, I was looking the other way. Plus since I left town my luck didn't seem to be in.
We left at 15:15 and thankfully didn't get lost at all. We came back on the A165 and eventually joined the A63, finally arriving home at five o'clock.
It was tiring but well worth the visit.
Regards
Intellectual
Just for a change thought I would have a trip to the side of the sea, rather than taking in local reserves etc. Took one of my regular birding buddies with me, he doubled up as navigator.
Usually go via Beverley, today I decided to go via Hull on the A63, to link up with the A165. All was going well till we reached the end of the A63. Now I could have missed the sign saying turn off for Bridlington, but I'm sure I didn't. All of a sudden we was heading for Withernsea according to the road signs. Asked the "navigator" if I was going in the right direction, WELL, I think not, he replied. I said to him we may just finish up at Spurn, to which we both smiled. There was only one thing to do and that was pull up, I consulted the map, and decided to go back and turn off at Preston - a small village not too far away. To cut a long story short, I got lost again because I missed a right turn, it didn't say on the sign that the road would lead me to the A165, so naturally went straight past. About half a mile further on I did a full sweep of a mini roundabout and turned back. By this time I was not an happy guy. As I was going back I noticed a large road sign, reading it, it said next turning left would lead to the A165, YIPPEE!! Now when I drove past that road sign from the other way, it made no mention of the A165, am I supposed to be psychic!!
We eventually reached our destination at quart to twelve, the journey from Sunny Scunny had taken two hours, two long hours.
The car park was almost full, but not that full I couldn't find a place. We had a drink and a bite to eat before making our way to the cliff top. While sat at one of the picnic tables a Chaffinch flew on to the table to get a pice of my sandwich, it was only about twelve inches from us, that was a treat.
As we went down the path we passed lots of people coming back from seeing what can only be described as a spectacular scene. We soon found our way to join the throng of people watching thousands upon thousands of seabirds. We were safely standing behind the wooden fencing.
We've been to Bempton before, but today there was more birds than last time two years ago. The sea, sky and cliffs was alive with birds, never have I seen so many birds in such a short distance. The sea was choppy as a fairly strong wind was blowing towards us. There were rafts of Kittiwakes with the best part of hundreds in each one. I could go on, but I daresay most people have experienced Bempton for themselves.
This is the species of birds we saw both waterbirds and those inland: Reed Bunting, Gannet, Linnet, Puffin, Kittiwake, Guillemot, Herring Gull, Rock Dove, Razorbill, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Martin, Crow, Jackdaw, Wood PIgeon, House Sparrow, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit and Skylark. One bird my buddy saw and I didn't was a Little Auk, I was looking the other way. Plus since I left town my luck didn't seem to be in.
We left at 15:15 and thankfully didn't get lost at all. We came back on the A165 and eventually joined the A63, finally arriving home at five o'clock.
It was tiring but well worth the visit.
Regards
Intellectual