Bempton Cliffs

Bempton Cliffs is a nature reserve, run by the RSPB, at Bempton in Yorkshire, England.

It is best known for its breeding seabirds, including Northern Gannet, Atlantic Puffin, Razorbill, Common Guillemot, Black-legged Kittiwake and Fulmar.

Location

The hard chalk cliffs at Bempton rise are relatively resistant to erosion and offer lots of sheltered headlands and crevices for nesting birds. The cliffs run about 10 km from Flamborough Head north towards Filey and are over 100 m high at points.

There are good walkways along the top of the cliffs and several well fenced and protected observation points. Most times there will be helpful bird watchers with a range of scopes and binoculars on hand.

Kittiwakes

Numerically the most common bird, around 10% of the United Kingdom population of Kittiwakes ("Rissa tridactyla") live here.

Puffins

Unlike most sites in the UK, the Atlantic Puffins ("Fratercula arctica") here nest in crevices in the rocks rather than in burrows, so although there are estimated to be around 6000 (2005), they are not as easy to see close up. Still, in May and June there are enough to go round. Local watchers suggested in 2005 that the effect of global warming was to reduce the numbers of sand eels available locally, as the sand eel thrives on plankton which had been driven much further north by the 2 degree rise in local sea temperatures.

The puffins themselves mostly fly 40 km south to Dogger Bank to feed.

External links

* [http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/b/bemptoncliffs/ Bempton Cliffs Nature Reserve]
* [http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=4675 Information Britain entry]
* [http://www.yorkshire-guide.co.uk/flamborough.aspx Walks around Bempton Cliffs]
* [http://www.travelpublishing.co.uk/HiddenPlacesYorkshire/EastYorkshire/YORRSPBBemptonCliffsNatureReserve.htm Travel Publishing information]