bempton-gannets, puffins and a few surprises

I Badly wanted to go to bempton today to test out all the new things I had learnt with my camera. my dad said that we might, but that it was weather permitting. when the day came the sun was shinning with brief periods of cloud. What i had not anticipated was that when we got there, that it would be really windy. It was so windy that the bird poo was being blown up the cliff. I managed to land 3 blobs on my camera. never-the-less, the wind created ideal conditions for holding the birds in place for photos. the gannets were just majestic as they always are...

but the other speices were also affected by the wind, -esspecially the kittywakes, who found it very hard to land on the cliff and resorted to hovering above the cliff held in place by the wind. It was quite commical to see but still special. other birds included puffins, guillemots, razorbills and herring gulls. plus a fulmar nest by the gannet arch.

But the wind also had something very special to bring in. As we wrapped up I tried the feeding station to see what was there. reports of lesser whitethroat and yellow wagatil had caught my attention that day so had half an eye open for them. I expected the yellow wagtail to be on the cliff top but to be frank the only yellow thing I saw the whole day were the vast fields of rapeseed that they grow nearby. as for the lesser whitethroat there was no showing. linnets and whitethroats were the main birds in the headgrows and gorse, but they are alsways special. when I got to the feeding station, another birdwatcher was beside me. One birder was watching the feeders. The guy coming in with me said "have you got the hawfinch". AAAAAAAA! a Hawfinch!?!. "Oh yes, "he replied "It is on the bottom branch of that tree". as You can probably imagine I was shaking a bit and was very excited. There it was, a stunning male hawfinch. sat there doing nothing. so ready for a photo!! I never expected it to be so big and so beautiful. a big crowd eventually gathered round but the bird seemed fearless. The guy who had walked in with me had a grenede launching camera lens balanced on a tripod which reeled off shots by the hundred. I felt put in place by that. Heres me with my little DSLR and theres him with his weapon off mass destruction. anyway its not about that. its all about the bird and what a cracker. words can not tell you dear blog just how much it meant to me to see it. That dodgy record at cragg vale which had me on the run has finally be avenged!!

tree sparrows

what more needs to be said!!