Bempton

Gannets — nearly full-grown chick and adult, Bempton Cliffs 

I had rather a lot of rail travel vouchers that needed spending so I thought I'd put some of them to use on a trip out to Bempton Cliffs to see if I could twitch the red-eyed vireo that's been there the past couple of days.

The journey out to Scarborough was uneventful right up to Malton where we got stuck behind a freight train so I got off at Seamer and made the connection with the Sheffield train there. (The schedule had originally allowed me ten minutes for getting a cup of tea at Scarborough.) The fields of North Yorkshire and the East Riding were busy with flocks of woodpigeons, rooks and jackdaws. Perhaps it's only South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire that have the barren fields.

First sight of the sea 

It was warm and sunny when I got off the train at Bempton and walked down to Bempton Cliffs. Warm enough for red admirals and large whites to be fluttering about the roadside and migrant hawkers to be patrolling the hedgerows. The house sparrows of the village gave way to the tree sparrows of the fields and a couple of skylarks trilled as I walked by.

The vireo had been reported as being at The Dell which is the little wooded hollow by the car park. A few people were scanning The Dell but the crowd was over in the car park by the entrance. I had a quick scan of The Dell myself and found a chiffchaff and half a dozen tree sparrows, which is a nice way to start proceedings. A rather noisy buzzard flew over accompanied by mobbing jackdaws.

I followed the crowd which was staring into some bushes and trees in the middle of the car park. It turned out they were looking for a yellow-browed warbler. I'm not so blasé about them as to be able to ignore one so I spent ten minutes having a look for it. It was phenomenally fidgety and views were fleeting. Ironically, it showed best when it flew over into the trees on the other side of the car park. There was a mass holding of breath as a sparrowhawk slowly glided over but it carried on out towards the clifftop fields. Looking for the warbler my eye kept being drawn to passing bees and wasps, and the occasional common darter. A mating pair of emerald damselflies landed on the bush next to me just as the warbler was showing well. Luckily they lingered for a couple of minutes before moving on so I managed to identify them properly.

Somebody shouted over that the vireo was in the bushes at the edge of the overflow car park so we all trotted off thataway. I was reminded why I don't like twitches with all the jostling for position that entails. There were a couple of fleeting glances of something with a green back and a silvery underside but I saw more of the back of somebody's head as they ducked and dived and jumped about to try and get a better view. I moved away a bit, which turned out to be lucky as I got twenty seconds' worth of an excellent view when the vireo came out and sat near the top of the bush. It was a lovely bird, like a very chunky blackcap in shape with bright olive green upperparts and silvery grey underparts. There was a very conspicuous pale eyestripe and its crown was dark steely grey, the feathers at the back of the crown were slightly raised from the nape, forming a sort of flattop crest. A very nice bird and my first vireo of any sort anywhere.

Pigeons, Bempton Cliffs 
As close to wild rock doves as you're going to get in England

Having got my tick I moved on so that other people might have a chance of seeing it. Flocks of pigeons and jackdaws were flying about the clifftops and linnets, goldfinches and tree sparrows were fussing about in the fields and hedgerows. Most of the pigeons looked as near as dammit like wild rock doves, a few were unmistakably feral pigeons. There are no true wild rock doves left in England, these flocks of pigeons are as close as they get these days.

Gannets, Bempton Cliffs 

There were plenty of gannets about, mostly at sea but there were still some nestlings being looked after by parents on the cliffs. Nearly all the gulls were herring gulls, a few black-headed gulls flew over the fields and I saw one lesser black-back out at sea. I very nearly missed the shag swimming near the bottom of the cliffs.

Pigeons, Bempton Cliffs

Flocks of pigeons were loafing on the cliff tops like their rock dove ancestors would have done in the days before monks kept dovecotes for the eggs.

Red-eyed vireo
An awkward devil but at least here you get to see most of the bird and its strange flattop crest.

On the way out I had a remarkable stroke of luck: the vireo was showing well in a hawthorn bush on the edge of The Dell. It showed very well indeed for a few minutes but was phenomenally fidgety, only ever staying still when it was in cover. Still, I'd seen it and very nice it was, too.

Red-eyed vireo
Another awkward pose

Bempton Cliffs