Bempton & Filey

On a glorious Friday, we went to the RSPB Reserve at Bempton Cliffs. We had a great day - even though the traffic on the way there was fairly heavy - everyone seemed to be heading for Bridlington and Scarborough! We found a parking spot immediately on arrival at the reserve (which is highly unusual - it's a busy place!!) and enjoyed a good walk along the clifftops looking at the seabirds and taking lotsa pictures!

Puffins
Gannets
Razorbills
Kittiwake

Guillemot

The Reserve is famous for it's population of Gannets and Puffins. There are almost 7,000 pairs of Gannets in the biggest onshore colony in the UK. May/June is the best time to see them, along with the Razorbills, Kittiwakes, Fulmars and Guillemots - all nesting on the cliffs. It's noisy, sometimes smelly but always a magnificent sight!

Anyway - after a pleasant couple of hours getting sunburnt - unintentionally, there was a very strong breeze which masked the power of the sun - we headed for Filey and Fish & Chips for tea! Then a stroll along the front and a few minutes sitting watching the tide come in before we headed for home about 6 pm.

The beach at Filey

Even when we arrived at Filey, things "fell into place". Again, we found a car parking space immediately but discovered the ticket machine wasn't working. I left a note on the windscreen but as we were leaving, an engineer was trying to fix the machines. I asked him if we should hang on til he'd fixed it but he told us not to bother - the note on the windscreen would be OK! So - 3 hours free parking as a nice little bonus!

A grand day all round!!