Thornwick Bay to South Landing

A Saturday outing to celebrate the start of the East Yorkshire Walking Festival. I take the train to Bridlington and walk along the Gypsey Race park to catch bus C14 to North Landing. Its a mild day with a light breeze. There is a spring tide today and the harbour water is as low as I've seen it.  

A Blackcap feeds on aphids under sycamore leaves.

Black Horehound by the harbour at Bridlington.

A few pairs of Kittiwakes are still on their nests at Marlborough Terrace, this pair was preening. No young on the nests.

I catch the bus, which is approaching North Landing an hour before the walk is due to start. I leave the bus at Thornwick Holiday village and walk along the cliff to North Landing. 

Starlings gathering by Thornwick Bay.

Thornwick Bay from the coastal path.

A Beewolf, used to be quite rare but expanding north. They feed their larvae with honeybees they stock in nests in sandy banks. I've recorded them by the Humber before, but this is my first Flamborough record.

Beewolf.

Linnets.

Five or six Fulmars circle the cliffs as I get to North Landing. I descend to the beach and watch them. I can't find any nests though. The sea is flat and out, with some people preparing to go to the water on inflatable waterboards. Oystercatchers piping and young Guillemots begging calls ringing from off shore. I climb the ramp to meet the walkers at the car park. The walk is led by the Flamborough Ramblers. Thirty people have assembled, and after a short information talk by the leader we set off towards Flamborough. I take the rear as I'm likely to stop to take photos and record in iNaturalist and chat with the woman in charge of closing the rear and a man with a small dog that stops every time I stop, unwilling to leave me behind. 

North Landing.

A young Stonechat at North Landing.

The rear of the walking group today.

Highland cows and Greylag Geese on the YWT nature reserve.

Breil Nook and the Queen rock.

Shags, including some juveniles, by Breil Nook.

Jackdaw.

We soon get to Selwick Bay and the Lighthouse. Most of the group do a look to see the Grey Seals. The tide is starting to turn and the seals comically lift their flippers and heads to stop getting wet. As the tide is so low, the seals are not in their spot in the beach, but out on flat rocks offshore. The seals call and at times a waft of their smell reaches us.

A very nice day for a snooze on the rocks.

I have a hot drink in the cafe and leave the group to carry on towards South Landing. The wind is now picking up, but mostly light. There is bright clouds and occasional sunny spells, ideal for walking.

A flock of Common Terns with many juveniles settle on a rock, they are spooked several times, but they return to the same rock again.

Common Terns.

Cormorants.

Over 60 Great Black-backed Gulls loafing, most adults.

I reach South Landing and sit down on a bench to have my lunch. At that moment I notice a small group of Bottlenose Dolphins, one of them breaching repeatedly and falling on its side making a big splash in front of the others. I take a short video and the following are two screengrabs. 

Bottlenose Dolphins.

 These are the first dolphins I see at South Landing. What a way to finish the walk! I walk to Flamborough village to catch my bus to Bridlington and my train home.

Train trip: Walking from Bempton to Filey

This trip had been on my wish list of walks for a while, and today, sunny weather and ebbing tide, I took the 7:25 train to Bempton. On the way, on a field north of Cottingham I manage a photo of nine Roe Deer. A Yellowhammer sits tight while a male Sparrowhawh flies past over my head on Cliff road at Bempton. A Brown Hare seems to be following a track on a field, zig-zagging and eventually coming quite close.

Roe Deer.

Brown Hare.

Red-legged Partidge at Cliff Road.

Singing Yellowhammer by the Dell.

I sit watching the birds at the Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve feeders while I wait for the cafe to open, at 9:30. After a hot drink, I'm ready for the walk. There seems to be fewer birds on the cliffs than on our visit a couple of weeks ago, but it is still busy. I don't linger much, but a Stonechat by the military area is nice.

Feral Pigeons.

Guillemots.

Stonechat.

Razorbill.

I leave the reserve. The cliff is very exposed to the westerly wind. Despite this, Linnets and Skylarks are feeding in the fields. Two Buzzards are playing with the wind on a ridge, one of them seem to be carrying a stick on its talons. A Peregrine swoops at one of them, and then hangs from the air over the cliff edge, hovering.

Pill Millipede.

Hovering Peregrine.

Buzzard.

Peregrine fly past.

The view from the trig point, the highest part of the cliffs at Buckton, at 135 m OSL.

Shortly after, the path down to Speeton Sands is being reprofiled and repaired with a small digger. It's relatively easy going until the steep steps down the ravine onto the beach by Black Cliff, which are in need of some TLC, the clay having eroded behind the retaining boards. The ravine highest humidity shows in a diversity of ferns and some tree cover in the shape of sycamores. There is a nice pond on a shelf near the ravine.

View east with the pond in the foreground.

I check some recent falls of large lumps of the Jurassic clay, and pick up some fossils.

Small Belemnites stick out of the clay.

Ammonite.

Armoured clay 'sausages' rather than balls on the beach.

Carline Thistle. one I like to record.

There is an explosion of flowering Colt's Foot like little sunshines on the cliff face.

The remains of a porpoise on the beach.

Fluke.

My first dronefly of the year.

Quite a lot of Cuttlefish bones on the beach, the largest about 17 cm.

It is a walk of two halves, the second part taking place along the long exposed beach, at low tide. It is much sheltered with barely any noticeable wind on the beach. After a quick lunch stop I carry on beach combing and make it to Filey with just enough time to grab a hot chocolate in the cafe and board my train back home.

Walk information. Distance between the stations: almost 17 km. Toilet facilities and cafes at Bempton, Hunmanby Gap and Filey. The walk is best attempted with an ebbing tide, as there is barely any beach at high tide. Poor accessibility and hard going, especially on the way down to the beach.