A Weekend in East Yorkshire

Saturday May 19th

Last Sunday we made the decision to go to visit Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire. The B&B is booked, the restaurant is booked, the car is packed to the gills again and we are on our way by 7.00am . Just short of 4 hours and a drizzly drive we arrive at the RSPB reserve. We have been looking forward to this all  week. The main reason for the visit is to see some Puffins and we are hopeful that today will be the day.

The weather is not good, quite cold, extremely windy and very overcast. Not put off by this we don our wet weather gear. Load up with the camera, bins and scopes and battle our way to the cliffs. First thing we get is the smell, very pungent fishy smell. Now today as I have said is cold and tres windy so the smell is very mild compared to what it must be like when it is a hot sunny day and the birds are feeding the chicks. I can only imagine the smell must nearly choke you.

First sight of the towering cliffs is awe inspiring, or should it be plummeting cliffs as we are on the top looking down. It is sheer cliff face and a very long way down and the sea is raging below. Thousands of sea birds are literally clinging to the cliff face, how they manage it & why they think it is a good place to lay eggs is quite beyond reason. Some look like they are really clinging on for dear life. However when they need to feed or just stretch their wings they just literally float into the air. No great launching or flapping of wings they just step off the cliff & away they go like us stepping off a kerb & crossing the road.

We get up close to some Gannets and can see the beautiful markings on their faces like someone has been at them with a felt tip. We think they are very beautiful & it is so nice to see them so close up. There are 5 viewing points in all and we battle our way along the cliff top, the wind is so strong at times you are unable to move. Mr F has managed to get spattered with bird poo, down his face & jacket. Well whats good for Simon King is good enough for him.

The elusive Puffin is spotted, a small bird quite comical in flight as it is on land but everybody loves them and shouts of “Puffin” go up as one is spotted. There are not many here, against the thousands and thousands of Razor Bills, Guillemots and Gannets. Not to mention Kittiwakes, Herring gulls & the occasional Fulmar. We really loved it but the weather was tiring so after about 3 hours we gave in. Had taken over 400 photo’s though.

I have never been to this part of the world so we headed up the coast to Scarborough. We managed to park and walked down past some more cliff where the RSPB were introducing people to the local Peregrine Falcons who were periodically terrorizing the local Kittiwake population. We walk along the front the wind is really quite cold now, but there are donkeys on the beach and the children are excitedly waiting for their go.  The front is just one mass of amusements, rock shops and seafood stalls. We are looking out for a pub, need to warm up a bit you understand. The choice is quite limited and unless we want karaoke or to be ambushed by various and many hen parties it is not looking good. We do manage to find some where that does not have drunk people hanging out of the front door (par for the course here and it is only 4pm!!) and we manage a quick drink. There is live music - you cannot escape “entertainment” in this neck of the woods, it is however very good in this particular pub.

The Hotel in Bridlington (it's a guest house) is ok, until we are shown to the room. A deluxe double. Well, it had a double bed but was smaller than our room at home and had rather an unpleasant aroma of toilet! An open window soon sorted that out. The room was nice the bed comfy and clean. A quick wash & brush up and we are hitting Bridlington nightlife. We are told by mine host that there is “entertainment” in most hotels and pubs in the town so just make a choice. For entertainment read - karaoke or a singer and yes they are everywhere.

We stop off at a pub that looks slightly better than others. We are later told that it is the worst. Mark Santana (not his real name I am thinking) is holding forth at the karaoke machine. He sounds just like a comedian doing an impersonation of an “entertainer” it is hilarious and very bad but everyone there is having a good time and are “very happy” or just very pissed.

The Naked Fish is our restaurant of choice an upmarket chippy with a restaurant upstairs. Although it would appear that no one eats out in Bridlington The Restaurant is empty apart from one other table. The waitress tells what they DONT have and that includes a wine list. Things are not looking good. But they do have wine. “We have an UNSMOKED chardonnay if you want dry or a sauvignon blanc thats dry as well”. No red wine was mentioned.

The food however was truly excellent. I had Local Scallops with Pancetta and Mr F had mussels in a very garlicky sauce. The garlic sauce followed us around all the following day and I bet halfway to Dubai where Ian was going on Monday. I then had haddock & chips and Mr F had Sea Trout. They were the best fish & chips I have ever ever eaten. Truly magnificent. Cooked in the traditional Yorkshire way in beef fat - OMG divine. Sarah you would just have had to forget the word beef for one night as you could not have resisted them.

Our waitress just sat down & chatted away the evening with us and gave us the low down on where to go later on for some entertainment and where to go the following day.

No pudding was offered not that we had room or the desire for one so we bade our farewells and made of up the prom to the Marine bar!

After a good 20 minute walk we find the aforementioned Marine bar which was full of people in their 60’s and 70’s. Feeling somewhat put out that the waitress thought we fitted in this category we grudgingly ordered a drink. It was fine and the somewhat aged clientele provided great people watching. It is amazing how many of them sat there & did not utter one word to their other half the whole evening. “Are we having a good time yet?”

We are close to the Guest House, sorry I mean hotel (10 rooms) and soon were downloading our photos onto the iPad. I love my iPad!

Woken at an ungodly hour by a Herring gull squawking it’s head off, it was so loud I would not have been surprised to have seen it sitting on the end of the bed. Shut the window and back to sleep only to be woken by the alarm 8.15. Sleeeeepppy.

Still full from last night I am not really fancying a full English but we will not eat until tonight so I went for the cut down version. However this did not work as because I did not have black pudding, fried bread etc they gave me extra sausage & bacon.

Now for some more exploring before time to go home. My we did do a lot or am I just waffling on??

In an endeavor to walk off the Full English we find Danes Dyke which are some prehistoric workings. Anyway it is a beautiful little valley that leads down to the sea. The track is lined with wild flowers. Primrose, Bluebells, Corn-cockles and a mass of wild garlic. Now after last nights mussels Mr F has suddenly blended into the natural aroma of things. After a short walk we reach the beach, tide is out and a wide stretch of sand awaits some footprints. Firstly we have to scramble over a line of white stones, they are very smooth and very white, chalk, all different sizes but mainly the same pebble shape. One thing is they have the most peculiar holes in them, smooth like someone has drilled into them. I have looked on t’internet but cannot find out what made them.  

Moving on we go to Flamborough head and another walk around. The coastline is stunning, more photo’s some more birds and some more of the fresh sea air. Another quick stop off at Bempton cliffs, more Puffins Hurrah. We are glad that we made the effort yesterday as today the Gannets were not hanging in the air so none of those magnificent shots that we managed to get yesterday.

Reluctantly we go back to the car & start the journey home, we are tired but exhilarated with our adventure. Mr F is soon nodding off, shortly to be followed by me -After we changed over drivers.

Start of The Puffin Quest 2012

You may recall last year I really wanted to see a Puffin. Despite several attempts, due in the main to bad weather & not lack of trying, I failed. This year is going to be different, fingers crossed. You only get a few months in the year where the Puffins come into land to breed. Starting April / May & finishing July.  In the main they are on uninhabited Islands around the UK, hence the failure last year as the weather was too bad to get out to the Treshnish Isles off the coast of West Scotland, the Farnes and Coquet Island in Northumberland. So its the mainland for us.

Some Puffins have been seen in Dorset around Portland Bill so imagine my delight when our local RSPB group (for local people, in every sense of the league of gentlemen!!) announced a trip there. Puffins here we come.

Up at 5.45 Saturday morning. Mr F somewhat jaded from a 3 day conference in Barcelona, managed to prise himself from the bed. I was not a lot better and wished I could lie in. However we stuffed the car full of cameras, scopes, tripods, binoculars, wet weather gear & enough food to get us through the day. A short drive to pick up the coach in Maidenhead & we were on the road just after 7.

Arrived Portland around 10ish. Beautiful blue sky and sunshine but quite a stiff wind blowing (more about that later).  I have never been to Portland Bill before it is a very beautiful place; well it’s the seaside so it would be nice.  We saw Guillemots, Razor Bills, Kittiwakes, Shags, some Gulls (we don’t do Gulls) and a Purple Sandpiper but no Puffins. Walking along the cliff top I had a bit of a disaster when the wind took my brand new scope & blew it over the edge of the cliff. I watched in horror as it slid down the grassy slope heading for the rocky cliff edge. Mr F was still a bit behind the rest of group as he was taking photos of Wheatears, so did not witness the event. Thankfully it stopped short of the cliff edge & one of the group climbed own & retrieved it. I was so lucky that it did not fall on rocks or end up in the sea. It was only slightly muddy and no damage done. I did not stop feeling shaky for quite a while even after I had admitted to Ian what had happened. Everyone said that they had all done it and it was par for the course. It did not do a lot for my confidence though. Mr F was less than amused to say the least, until I reminded him about the Nikon incident at Cork Airport!!! 1 all I think.

We then walked up by some beach huts and as soon as we were out of the wind it became very hot. Lots of birds were singing in the brambles & atop bushes making excellent viewing in scopes and subjects for photographing. There were Linnet (lots), Stonechat, Whinchat, Wheatear, Sedge Warbler, Greenfinch and Goldfinch to name a few. The clear sound of their song was just lovely, the warm smell of the wildflowers and grass, in the sun and a hint of salty sea air, just perfect. We had to walk past a pub to get back to the coach – that is the trouble with Birders they are more interested in the next tick rather than the next pint! The lure of ale was strong for Ian & I but time was precious so we skulked past the pub. It was worth it though as we saw a Little Owl tucked up inside a gap in a quarry face, quite close up. 

We went onto RSPB Radipole Lake in the centre of Weymouth. The weather continued to be kind to us. We got an excellent view of a hobby sitting for quite a while in a tree, saw the mating dance of the Great Crested Grebe and narrowly missed out on a Bearded Tit seen by a couple of members of the group.

 However we did manage to get a fantastic sighting of a Cetti’s Warbler. It usually appears on the day list as heard only. They do have the most amazingly loud song; it's

almost as if they are shouting at you. All in allwe had a really great day out despite the lack of Puffins. The beautiful weather helped to make the day extra special after all the rain we have had recently, and the glowing faces on the coach on the way home proved a great source of amusement for many. I have not given up and the quest for a Puffin continues next week. Stay tuned!

There are plenty of Photo's to post when Mr F get time to choose which ones are the best. I have just read this back & am sure that most of you will be less than interested in the nerdy birdy stuff.

Update - a bit late I know

Well I know that I have not posted anything for a while. It is not that life is boring but quite the contrary. what have we been up to?? Well lets see - March we had our usual sabbatical to Gran Canaria. The weather was just great all week. We had a really relaxing time and quite the best we have had there. It seems a long time ago now. We did enjoy a super week of weather when we got back to the UK but it was short lived.

Easter - we met up with the Scotts and did Savil gardens and Piccolino's for Lunch on Good Friday. Spent the day in London on Saturday - Shopping! Had quite a shock in Rigby & Peller (In a Good way). Had a really good Dim Sum in China town. Sank a couple of glasses of wine, failed miserably to get to see the Woman in black and decided that we would go to  Sri Lanka for our Silver Wedding anniversary next year. All in all quite an exhausting day.

Sunday we saw our first Redstart and Monday we cleaned out the garage!

We have been on a couple of RSPB walks. One rainy day we went down to Hengistbury Head near Chichester. The weather was dreadful but would like to re-visit when the sun is shining a bit as it was a really nice place. There is a cafe there where you can get the most enormous bacon & egg maps. I could not manage to eat mine, delicious as it was. But rest assured Mr F found room for it. Worth the drive for it alone!
We had a nice day despite the weather, everyone in the group is no nice & so helpful. I really enjoy the outings.

One weekend in April we went to the London Wetland centre saw a talk by Simon King which was very entertaining & informative. The downside it that it has me glued to the flamin website where Peregrine chicks have hatched & are being fed. There are a few of these webcams around the country at present. BE WARNED you will get addicted to them! We also bought a spotting scope so I suppose I am a real nerd now! I just need to be able to get out more to use it. Or just get out more :)

Last weekend with Mr & Mrs Scott we luncheoned at Adam Simmons Michelin Star Restaurant in Danesfield House. It was the whole works, Champagne, wine and roughly about 10 courses. The singing & dancing came later back at 62. It was very good but not too sure if it had the wow factor! Are we getting too blase about things now? I don't think so as the beads of sweat on brows went to prove when the bill arrived!!!! Love Danesfield though. Also when Jon drove us up to the door (it was raining can you believe?) the doorman took his keys and said, we will park your car sir! Never had that before we all loved it.

I have got some photos somewhere & as the weather is not so good this weekend I might get around to adding them here.


We have a very busy diary this year, holiday in Cornwall and Croatia. Lots of cricket, test matches and T20 games in various venues in the UK.

Next bank holiday we have dinner in London with Ian's work to celebrate his 30 years with ARAMARK (nearly 31 now they have taken so long about it). The next day we meet up with Chris Coigne, who is former boss who is coming over from the US for the Jubilee, and we go to see Coldplay at the Emirates Stadium.

I will keep this updated promise, it should be easier now I have the Ipad2 however someone keeps monopolising it to play scrabble & look at the football!

LOL Mrs F xxx