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On Thursday we wanted to walk another section of the coast path from Flamborough to the RSPB Visitor Centre at Bempton Cliffs.
It was a bit of a slog across the field paths to the coast, especially the last 100 yards or so past a field of oilseed rape which was falling across the footpath, but it wasn't as bad as the field of the stuff near Ingleby a few years back where the farmer hadn't cut the wretched stuff away from the path across his field and it dragged at our ankles all the way across. When we reached the coast path, we were confronted with this signpost. Somewhat uninformative, to say the least!
This splendid wooden chap holds court on the edge of the footpath where it crosses Danes Dyke, an ancient earthwork. I was somewhat afeard that he might be the only puffin we'd see....
I was rather taken with this arch, but if I were a seabird, I think I'd avoid building my nest on it - I'm not sure how long it will be before the sea washes it away.
We walked out to the cafe at Bempton, which turned out to be a hole in the wall where a nice lady was selling cups of tea and eccles cakes, and then began trundling back again. A few hundred yards from the Visitor Centre was a big wooden observation platform where people were watching the birds on the cliffs. It was very crowded so we trundled a long a little further and set up with our scope and binoculars ....and there, in a little hollow in the cliff, directly under the observation platform where the people on it couldn't see him, was our first puffin of the day....This appears to be what constitutes high humour for a puffin :-)
My shots of him are on extreme digital zoom, so I apologise for their shortcomings on that account.
This seems to be a puffin impression of a rubber duck.
Rob was dead keen to get back to the village.
View along the cliff path towards Flamborough Head from Danes Dyke.
We had dinner in a different pub this time (which still didn't take debit cards!). Rob was happier with his steak pie than he'd been with the previous night's gammon, but I found the Quorn lasagne rather bland and the chips were disappointing.
Friday was going home day, but we decided to stop off in the seaside town of Bridlington on the way. Not the most exciting of places, but the beach is nice and Rob had a paddle :-)
And there was a nice view of the cliffs we'd been walking along :-
Not a bad holiday for a last minute replacement, on the whole!
It was a bit of a slog across the field paths to the coast, especially the last 100 yards or so past a field of oilseed rape which was falling across the footpath, but it wasn't as bad as the field of the stuff near Ingleby a few years back where the farmer hadn't cut the wretched stuff away from the path across his field and it dragged at our ankles all the way across. When we reached the coast path, we were confronted with this signpost. Somewhat uninformative, to say the least!
This splendid wooden chap holds court on the edge of the footpath where it crosses Danes Dyke, an ancient earthwork. I was somewhat afeard that he might be the only puffin we'd see....
I was rather taken with this arch, but if I were a seabird, I think I'd avoid building my nest on it - I'm not sure how long it will be before the sea washes it away.
We walked out to the cafe at Bempton, which turned out to be a hole in the wall where a nice lady was selling cups of tea and eccles cakes, and then began trundling back again. A few hundred yards from the Visitor Centre was a big wooden observation platform where people were watching the birds on the cliffs. It was very crowded so we trundled a long a little further and set up with our scope and binoculars ....and there, in a little hollow in the cliff, directly under the observation platform where the people on it couldn't see him, was our first puffin of the day....This appears to be what constitutes high humour for a puffin :-)
My shots of him are on extreme digital zoom, so I apologise for their shortcomings on that account.
This seems to be a puffin impression of a rubber duck.
Rob was dead keen to get back to the village.
View along the cliff path towards Flamborough Head from Danes Dyke.
We had dinner in a different pub this time (which still didn't take debit cards!). Rob was happier with his steak pie than he'd been with the previous night's gammon, but I found the Quorn lasagne rather bland and the chips were disappointing.
Friday was going home day, but we decided to stop off in the seaside town of Bridlington on the way. Not the most exciting of places, but the beach is nice and Rob had a paddle :-)
And there was a nice view of the cliffs we'd been walking along :-
Not a bad holiday for a last minute replacement, on the whole!
accomplished
Some people claim to have seen Great whites in British waters, but there's never been a confirmed sighting. Smaller sharks like blues and porbeagles (great name!) live there though.
That very informative (not) signpost reminds me of a Monty Python(?) scene where the Python lads come across a sign saying "Do Not Throw Stones At This Notice".
Those vertical cliffs are impressive too, with the sweeping view, and also with the 'thurlestone/thirlestane'. I'd imagine they're well-populated with other seabirds, apart from the puffins.
Alas, the pictures are at the extreme range of my digital zoom, so rather fuzzy, but I was jolly pleased to have caught him with his beak open - I actually couldn't tell until I got home and uploaded it!
Snerk!
But seriously, we had maps and a GPS and there wasn't really anywhere to get lost to, but would it have killed them to put some actual place names on the signs? Silly people!
Indeed!
Gannets by the oodle, guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes were the main residents. Also, something which the visitor centre claimed were "Rock doves" but which look suspiciously like pigeons to me...
Well exactly. Why put up a sign that just tells you it's a path? Presumably the Great Deep-Thinking Ones in charge of footpaths reckon that people are unable to work that out for themselves...
Sounds well worth taking a pair of binoculars and going to do a bit of watching next time I'm in that area - perhaps a quieter alternative to Easter Monday in Whitby on our next Steam Tour.
You're both right. The Rock Dove is the original wild version of the domestic and town pigeon.
I'm not too sure about "quieter" :-) It was pretty crowded last week, at least. Although the crowds thinned to nothing once you got more than a few hundred yards from the Visitor Centre...
I can definitely recommend the B&B we stayed in - very friendly and helpful,nice room, and they have an off-road parking area that's locked up at night.
That sounds fine for me. Whitby was chocka on the Easter Monday, but then I'd imagine so would Flamborough be! Out on the cliff path probably wouldn't be too bad, though.
<looks at wibble>
Looks pretty well-appointed, and fairly reasonably priced. I see they have a twin room, so that'd be OK for Geoff and me. They're right on the street though; how was it for traffic noise at night?
There was quite a bit of traffic during the day and early evening - a surprising amount actually, considering that Flamborough itself isn't really on the way to anywhere else - and a few noisy people on the street as well, but by the time it was time to go to sleep (about 10pm for us) it was reasonably quiet. Although I suppose it's likely a fair bit quieter where you live than it is hereabouts, especially as we're on the airport flight path.
Here, we're close enough to Luton Airport that when they're taking off towards the east, we get quite a lot of late-night aircraft noise, so we're fairly used to that. We don't get much road noise, though, as we're on a quiet village road rather than a town street.
I don't know if it shows in the picture, but the wooden puffin is roughly person-sized. It must have been fun getting it out there as there isn't really any way to get to that point other than walking for several miles.