A trip to Bempton Cliffs
25.05.2019
I had planned this trip to Bempton Cliffs since April, and when visiting a new wildlife site I come prepared with items for a range of situations that could arise throughout the day. This includes waterproof trousers, suncream, and thick winter gloves if the sea winds were to rip up the cliffs. Obviously I packed all memory cards I had and multiple camera batteries. I cannot stress enough how important this is for any photographer, as it is the worst feeling to have either a full memory card of low battery warning flash on the camera, when it’s only half way through a photography session or an unexpected event occurs, especially when photographing wildlife as it is always so unpredictable!
A three hour drive awaited myself and another fellow photographer when we left my house at 9am. At first, we were dreading the ominous clouds that loomed over us all the way up to the crossing of the Humber Bridge, and were afraid that the clouds and rain would accompany us when we arrive at the cliffs. However, the winds were in our favour and pushed the storm clouds away from the coast and more inland when we arrive at roughly midday. Once we assembled our camera gear and make sure we were wearing appropriate outdoor wear, (my photographer friend Will opted for flip-flops!) we passed through the visitor centre and made our way across the fields to the edge of Bempton Cliffs.
Here’s a little bit of history of Bempton Cliffs. The nature reserve is locate on the East Yorkshire coast and is run by RSPB, which I am a volunteer for at another nature reserve in Lincolnshire. The cliffs can become home to over 200,000 sea birds during the months of May to October, consisting of gannets, guillemots, razorbills, puffins, fulmars and kittiwakes. The site used to be an RAF base and it was established as a radar station during World War Two, then the base closed for good in April 1972.
When I first came across the masses of seabirds that glided in front of the cliffs just below us, I was in awe at the grace of each bird as they ‘hung’ in the wind. At first I spotted the usual seabirds sighted on any other beach within the UK, which were fulmars and kittiwakes. And then I spotted the gannets, which were much larger in comparison to the dainty kittiwakes, and they constantly loomed above the cliff line hanging on the wind, and then swooped down as they searched for a perch in which to rest potentially beside their mate. Occasionally I came across a dip along the cliff path, and with not being an average tall person I could only just about see the tops of gannets’ heads as they rested right on the edge of the sheer cliff drop. However, I would find a small bit of higher ground where, with my monopod in hand, I would attach the camera to the monopod then place the bottom of it on my boot, and angle the camera down onto the gannets. I then used the live view option to determine where the birds were in the frame. This is probably where one of my favourite shots of the day came from, as unbeknownst to me a pair of gannets were performing a ‘dance’ together which was just out of my line of sight. So when I viewed the images back, and also a mini video that I captured at the same time, I saw the pair captured in the frame, and I felt ecstatic!
I was also thrilled when I saw puffins zooming past halfway up the cliffs, and they would often rest close to the top of the cliffs allowing a perfect viewpoint to position my camera in without guessing where they were. Other small seabirds included guillemots and razorbills, and because of their size and speed it was rather difficult to get a good in flight shot of them, as they only allowed a window of roughly three seconds to focus and continuously shoot the birds! I was made up, however, when the puffins were ready to take off again, it allowed me to set up my camera on the monopod again, and it was the case of shooting continuously again when the bird was preparing to push themselves off the cliff. These images came out very well as you will be able to see by clicking on the link below! I was very happy to come away with shots of all of the seabirds on the cliffs, and I greatly recommend this location for photographers and birdwatchers alike.
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