Trip reports

A Pelagic Boat Trip From Bridlington by Brian Lloyd

View of Bempton Cliffs

Sunday, 16 September 2007

Soon after 9 a.m. we were on the cliff top at Flamborough Head looking down on the sea of the guillemots and razorbills in their winter suits. A wheatear was briefly seen halfway down the cliff and then a sooty shearwater among the gulls and gannets at sea before a sparrowhawk swooped down, trying to flush out some smaller birds for a late breakfast.

All too soon, we had to leave to find the 'Yorkshire Belle' on Bridlington Pier, a surprisingly small boat to take 150 people 3 miles out into the North sea. The boat was right next to the North Pier on the harbour side, equally close on the seaward side was a red throated diver. A good start! We saw different birds as soon as we were out of the harbour. Lots of common terns, various gulls and gannets. Soon we were seeing both Arctic and great skuas harrying the terns. The gannets, lots of them fishing - plunge-diving into the sea in a relatively confined area - quite spectacular. The gannets' activity was attracting other birds - two Manx shearwaters, distant at first but eventually reasonably close to the boat. Then something special - a sooty shearwater. An all dark, dark grey shearwater, a bird that nests in the South Atlantic, then spends the rest of the year wandering the Atlantic - North and South - and here it was, shearing (as its name says!) the waste tops right next to the boat and into the chum line picking up bits of fish (which is what a chum line is - mashed fish and brawn over the back of the boat to attract birds). Then, just as we were about to turn back - another special bird! Small and dainty, circling the boat, then into the chum line, then back around the boat, flying fast. A Sabine gull. Pretty good.

Then unfortunately it was time to go back. The wind had been getting stronger all the time we were out, and the sea was quite rough, so turning back into the wind meant a spray was coming over the boat in large quantities!! We were all getting wet and in the choppy sea some of us were not feeling too god, so returning to the harbour was quite a welcome move. In spite of getting wet, this was a really good day out - two very special birds. It's just a pity that Bridlington isn't just around the corner from Milton Keynes!