As I write this blog post the world is in the grip of the Corona Virus pandemic. The UK is locked down and travel to anywhere is severely restricted. Also the city of Derby is currently under 6 inches of snow making even unrestricted travel difficult.
With all that in mind I’m once again blogging about somewhere I visited in August 2019. More Up-to-date blogs will appear once the lockdown restrictions are lifted.
Situated on the North East coast of England, the RSPB Bempton Cliffs & Seabird Centre is a ‘must see’ for any person with an interest in ornithology. Whether it’s an interest in birds in general or specifically sea birds Bempton is the place to go. It could be that you’re a bird watcher that wants to add some new species to your all-time list or, like me, you’re an avid amateur wildlife photographer who wants the challenge of not only watching these magnificent birds but also photographing them.
RSPB Bempton Cliffs & Seabird Centre is located about a mile from the village of Bempton between Flamborough Head and Filey. It’s not difficult to find although the small road leading to the RSPB building is quite easy to miss as I found out. On my first visit my satnav attempted to take me up a farm track which just looked totally wrong. Ignoring it I continued along B1229 and into Bempton village. From there it was a fairly straight forward drive up a narrow road and into the reserve car park.
This was going to be my second visit and having parked my car in the car park I grabbed my camera gear and headed into the Seabird Centre. For information purposes, the wildlife images in this post were taken with the Nikon D850 and the Nikkor 200-500mm f5.6 zoom lens. The landscape images were taken with the same camera but using the Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8 lens.
At the time of my visit admission to the cliffs via the centre was £5. There are a couple of directions you can go from the centre. You can pass through the rear of the centre on to the main path and head down to one of the many viewing areas. Or, you can do an about-face, pass back through the entrance and head towards the cliffs via the small bird ponds and feeding area.
For your first visit I can highly recommend downloading the trail guide at the link below. This gives a complete layout of the facility showing the paths and viewing areas.
It’s worth noting that all paths from the centre eventually lead you to the same place. You just get there by different routes and seeing different things. I chose to follow the purple path on the trail guide and make my way towards Mosey Downgate viewing area.
The viewing platforms are (from North West to South East):
- Jubilee Corner
- Bartlett Nab
- Mosey Downgate
- Grandstand
- New Roll-up
- Staple Newk
The scenery is truly spectacular especially if you enjoy rugged cliff faces and views out to the North Sea. However, it must be said that standing on the viewing platforms is not for those who suffer with a fear of heights. The platforms are perfectly safe but they do afford you views directly from the top of the cliffs and down to the water's surface. Somewhat awe inspiring but at the same time a little unnerving but what better way to enjoy the fabulous behaviour of the wonderful birds that reside here?
It's incredibly easy to get carried away with the photography and before long you’ve rattled off a few hundred shots. Luckily, we’re in the age of digital photography so all you’re doing is filling up a memory card and not having to put roll upon roll of film in the camera. However, it does mean that you have a lot of sifting and sorting to do once you’re back home and sat in front of the computer!
Something I realised on my first visit to Bempton was that, from a photography point of view, was that Bempton comprises both Wildlife and Landscape subjects. It’s very easy to just take a wildlife lens but then you’d miss out on the landscape stuff. Conversely you could just take landscape gear but then you’d miss out on the wildlife. As this was my second visit, I knew that I was going to do the wildlife first and the head back to the car park and change gear for landscape. In this way I could reduce the weight of the gear I was carrying.
I walked right down to Staple Newk and spent some considerable time there before walking back to Mosey Downgate then North West visiting each of the platforms until I got to Jubilee Corner. As you walk the path North West you can see the old wartime RAF Radar station set back from the path behind a fence (see above). Once I’d photographed all of the birdlife I wanted do for that day I had my lunch on a bench overlooking the sea before heading back to the carpark and swapping over to my Landscape gear. I then repeated the walk this time concentrating on the cliffs and surrounding land. Some might argue that this is a strange thing to do but for me, restricting my gear means that I can give my full attention to the subject in hand.
Once I’d got all of the shots I wanted I left the reserve and dropped down to Flamborough Head to take more images but that’s for another blog post.
If you’re interested in ornithology or just fancy a walk in some spectacular scenery then you must visit the RSPB Bempton Cliffs & Seabird Centre. At the time of writing this blog post the centre is closed due to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions but it will open again in the future I’m absolutely sure.
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