Train trip: Flamborough's North Landing to South Landing

 

Saying train and bus trip would have made for a very long title, but I caught the train to Bridlington and then walked to the bus station to catch East Yorkshire bus 14 to North Landing. In today's walk I followed the coastal path from North Landing, around the tip of Flamborough Headland and then returns via South Landing to catch the bus back at Church Street, Flamborough. The walk is about 11 km.

A Red Admiral on the Gypsey Race park.

Little Egret at the Gypsey Race.

Still some Kittiwakes around Bridlington.

I start by descending the ramp to South Landing to check the House Martin colony on the cliffs. The beach is busy with people. A coble is about to leave for a boat trip, passengers on board. I walk to the west end of the beach. There are several active House Martin nests and in one of them the chicks were visible.

House Martin nest and chick.

Perfect conditions for a walk. Sunny spells, mild and light breeze. This is the sea at North Landing.

North Landing beach.

I don't hang around much and ascend the ramp. Fulmars are circling by the cliffs, but I fail to spot any nests.

North Landing from above.

Fulmar circling.

Lines of Gannets were moving north all morning.

Around 20 Shags were present at Breil Newk.

One of the Shags was ringed, it looks it might be DAN.

Staple Newk.

One of the Highland cows in the YWT nature reserve enjoys a good horn scratch.

A lone Swift flies over the headland, the old lighthouse in the horizon.

Several seals were bobbing just offshore by Selwicks bay.

Flamborough Lighthouse.

One of my aims for the day was to see the seals at the little beach at the headland by High Stacks. I hadn't tought about the tide though. It had been high tide an hour earlier, and there was a fair amount of beach exposed. There were many seals just off the beach, watching. There was a thick band of seaweed between the seals and the beach. A couple managed to go past the weed and onto the beach, but there was a fair amount of growling.

The seals appeared unsure to cross the weed onto the beach.

Unhappy seals in the seaweed.

Seal and Herring Gull. Many of the seals by the beach looked like young individuals.

Harebells.

The beach was busy with waders, all in small numbers: Turnstones, a Ruff, a Sanderling, a Ringed Plover. Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed gulls completed the cast. I have my packed lunch on the grass over High Stacks, by a lovely clump of Harebells, hoping for the tide to ebb a bit, and afterwards I watch the seals some more before carrying on with my walk.

Turnstones.

Stonechat.

Sanderling.

A Great Black-backed Gull scavenging a young Grey Seal carcass at the top of the beach.

Oystercatcher.

Carline Thistle.

Kestrel.

Ruddy darter

Speckled Wood.

Kestrels hover over the cliff top at regular intervals, the cries from Oystercatchers coming from the hidden beach below. South Landing comes into view, I glimpse an arrow of dark wings disappearing behind the cliff: a Peregrine! I wait and it reappears, chasing a flock of small waders, they fly close to the water and the Peregrine leaves them, only to cause mayhem amongs gulls, some hurriedly diving to escape. It chases a Black-headed Gull and misses, and then it disappears again behind the cliffs after a couple of passes overhead. Wow! One of those amazing wildlife moments! Only then I see a male Kestrel, hunkering on the cliff edge near me. I guess he's seen all the action too! What a way to finish the walk. I take a short detour around the woods before heading to Church street to catch the bus back to Bridlington.

South Landing.

The Peregrine flushing the gulls, note the splashes of gulls flying into the water or diving.

A chase of a Black-headed Gull.

The Peregrine fly pass.

The hunkering Kestrel.

 

A visit to Beverley Minster

I heard the pair of local Peregrines at Beverley had bred on the box placed on the SW tower at the Minster and I took an early train to visit them. As I approached the Minster, the bells tolled 8 o'clock and I could already hear the Peregrines calling. 

Rooks and Jackdaws breed on or around the Minster, even Woodpigeons find it irresistible. One pair were nest building, while another was sitting on a nest on a ledge. I don't remember having seen Woodpigeons nesting on buildings before

A Woodpigeon nest with a view

Jackdaw on nest.

Rook.

And then I spotted the Peregrines. The pair, sitting on separate gargoyles of the same tower, overlooking the nest box. They camouflage perfectly when sitting on gargoyles.

Swifts circled high above, chasing each other. The Peregrine sat sunning itself, lazily watching the bluebottles and the Swifts flying about.

At some point it took flight and started gaining height almost effortlessly, soaring higher over the Minster.

View from the field.

I walk around the Minster. I scan the nest box but I can't see inside, until two little heads come closer to the front and I can see the two chicks or 'eyasses', watching the world outside their nest.

A  head poking out.

Head and tail.

Both young on the right hand side.

The bell tolls 9am. I take a walk around the town. At Beverley Market square, I spot one of the Peregrines soaring. 

Loving the photo-bombing Swifts today.

I remember about the Chough on a coat of arms, and I find it, with a pair of Collared doves, which have chosen it as a nest site.

I check on the Peregrines again at the Minster and have some better views of the chichs. The bell tolls 11 and it's time to get my train back.