Last week we had planned to do this trip and the events during the week had us thinking, you never know. Kevin drove with myself and Steve B for company, we left Castleton at 7-15am and with the roads being fairly quiet we reached Bempton by 9-25am. With the negative news about the Black browed Albatross on Saturday, it came as no surprise that it was not seen on our visit. A few other keen birders including Rob C from GM thought they might have a chance to see the Black browed Albatross, it may yet return? The cliffs teamed with life with Common Guillemot, Razorbill, Kittiwake, Gannet, Fulmar, Puffin, all tending nests, eggs or chicks. As usual a spectacular sight with lots of photographic opportunities coming and going, the strong wind didnt make it easy though. Lots more day trippers arrived as the sun began to make it feel like summer!
We had a drive to Forge Valley near Hackness, North Yorkshire and at one of the two bird feeding stations a nice Marsh Tit was seen along with lots of the more common bird table feeders. We had a look around the area failing to try to locate a small population of Mandarin Ducks that are usually found in this area, but not today! We decided that a trip to the raptor viewpoint in Wykeham would be a waste of time due to not having seen any birds of prey in the area, probably due to the strong winds blowing.
Our final place to visit will have to remain a secret due to the tenuous hold that the Turtle Doves have in the area. We have visited this site for a few years and usually see these beautiful birds. We split up to search the area and in total saw around six birds. A sight that we were all lucky enough to see and hear was a pair of Turtle Doves doing their courtship in full view not 25 yards away! A memorable way to end a good days birding in fine weather.
