RSPB Bempton Cliffs late June/early July 2025

July 02, 2025

Our second visit to Bempton Cliffs. Last year we were a month earlier and were lucky enough to see a Short-eared Owl and a Barn Owl in the fields. No such luck this year, but the cliffs were chock-a-block with sea birds.

Gannet

Gannets are large, striking seabirds found along the UK’s coasts, especially in Scotland, where they breed in huge colonies on cliffs and offshore islands. The Northern Gannet, known for its white plumage, black wingtips, and long, pointed wings. They are expert divers, plunging into the sea from great heights to catch fish. The UK hosts around 60% of the world’s Northern Gannet population, with major colonies at Bass Rock, St Kilda, and Bempton Cliffs.

Kittiwake

Kittiwakes are delicate-looking, ocean-loving gulls found around the UK’s coasts, especially at seabird colonies like Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire. Easily recognised by their crisp white bodies, grey wings, and distinctive black wingtips, they have a gentle “kitti-wake” call that gives them their name. Kittiwakes nest in dense colonies on narrow cliff ledges, often building their nests in seemingly precarious spots. Bempton Cliffs hosts thousands of these birds during the breeding season, from late spring to early summer, making it one of the best places in the UK to see them up close.

Fulmar

Fulmars are seabirds commonly seen along the UK’s rugged coastlines, including at Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire. Resembling gulls but more closely related to albatrosses, they have stiff-winged gliding flight and a distinctive tube-shaped nostril on their beaks. Fulmars nest on narrow cliff ledges, often returning to the same spot each year. At Bempton Cliffs, they can be seen soaring effortlessly over the sea, especially during the breeding season from spring to late summer. Adapted to life at sea, fulmars are hardy birds that spend most of their lives over the open ocean outside the breeding season.

Puffin

Puffins are one of the UK’s most beloved seabirds, known for their colourful beaks and comical appearance. They come ashore each spring to breed in coastal colonies, including at Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire. Although fewer in number here compared to other UK sites, Bempton is one of the easiest places in England to spot puffins during the breeding season, from April to July. Puffins nest in burrows or crevices in the chalk cliffs and spend the rest of the year far out at sea.