Bempton Cliffs

Sadly, we are temporarily closed to visitors during lockdown. See full facilities information below. Due to the coastal location of Bempton Cliffs, a large proportion of our visitors usually come from outside the area. In line with Government guidance on non-essential travel, we urge you to please visit your most local nature reserves and green spaces only. The public footpaths are open as normal for local, essential exercise only. If using the footpath, please observe current guidelines on social distancing, face coverings, group sizes, hygiene and follow all signage. See our Covid-19 updates page for the latest RSPB information (link below).  Thank you for your support and understanding.

Address: RSPB Bempton Cliffs, Cliff Ln, Bridlington YO15 1JF, UK

Grid ref: TA197738

See our reserves Covid-19 updates page for which sites are open and other important details.

Bempton Cliffs, on the spectacular Yorkshire coast, is home to one of the UK's top wildlife spectacles. Around half a million seabirds gather here between March and October to raise a family on towering chalk cliffs which overlook the North Sea.

Plan your visit

Reserve: Closed.
Visitor Centre: Closed.
Shop: Closed.
Café: Closed.

Festive opening times:

Christmas Eve: Reserve, visitor centre, toilets, shop and café are closed.
Christmas Day: Reserve, visitor centre, toilets, shop and café are closed.
Boxing Day: Reserve, visitor centre, toilets, shop and café are closed.
New Year’s Eve: Reserve open dawn-dusk. Visitor centre, toilets, shop and café open 10am-4pm
New Year’s Day: Reserve open dawn-dusk. Visitor centre, toilets, shop and café open 10am-4pm.
All other days in the festive period are open our usual winter opening hours as above.

Free entrance to RSPB members: Yes

Adults: £6 (£3 November - February)

Children: £3 (£1.50 November - February)
Free entrance for first child
Free entrance for under 5s

Student: £4.50 (£2.25 November - February)

Free entrance for carers: Yes

Facilities

Visitor centre is closed
Car park is closed
Toilets are closed
Accessible toilets are closed
Baby changing is closed
Pushchair friendly
Cafe is closed
Binocular hire is closed
Guided walks is closed
Viewing points are closed
Nature trails is closed
Shop is closed
Educational facilities are closed

Accessibility

Full accessibility information (external website)

How to get here

By train

The nearest station is Bempton, on the Hull/Scarborough line. There is a walk of approx 1 1/4 miles from the station to the reserve.

By bus

There is currently no bus service to the reserve or nearby Bempton village.

By road

The reserve is a 30 minute drive from Scarborough and around 10 minutes from Bridlington. Follow the brown signs from the main roads. Or key YO15 1JF into your Sat Nav.

Sat nav POI file: If you have a satellite navigation system that can accept POI files, please see our POI page for a download link and instructions.

Get directions from Google Maps

RSPB reserves on Google Earth

Dogs are welcome on the footpaths around the reserve.

Please keep your dog on a lead and under close, effective control at all times, due to the sensitive wildlife and habitats here. We know that the countryside is a dog walking paradise. It’s important to remember the special surroundings here are wonderful havens for rare wildlife so we’ve created dog-friendly routes for you and your pooch to enjoy. Even if dogs are very well behaved, wildlife can easily become startled by a loose dog they perceive as a predator.

Disturbing wildlife does more than simply causing it to move away; it uses up their energy, decreasing their chance of survival regardless of season. Thank you for protecting the special wildlife here by keeping your dog on a lead.

Dogs are welcome on all trails.
Dog water bowls are available at the back and front of the visitor centre.
Dogs are permitted in the visitor centre.
Dogs die in hot cars, please do not leave your dog in the car when visiting us.

Groups are usually welcome to visit us during normal opening hours. However, changes to laws in England mean that the maximum group size able to visit our reserves together is currently 6, unless you are from the same household or bubble.

Due to Covid-19 measures, we have temporarily paused our school visits until Spring 2021. For information on our exciting programme of curriculum-linked outdoor education sessions, visit our school trips information here.

In the meantime, check out our fantastic range of resources for teachers here, or take on the Schools’ Wild Challenge here.

'Amazing' and 'awesome' are just two of the words schools have used to describe their visit to the cliff tops. The incredible seabird spectacle provides the perfect backdrop for a memorable day of learning. The seabirds provide an up-close experience which can be used to explore topics such as habitats, food chains and adaptations.

We have a number of programmes to choose from, each one is designed to last two hours, with sessions running from 10am-12pm, and 1pm-3pm, or combine two into a day visit. For more information, please see our school trip ideas page for Bempton Cliffs.

And if you'd like to book, contact schoolbookings@rspb.org.uk or call 01603 697 504 .

13 degrees, Sunny day

Downloads

Helping you find your way around. PDF, 217Kb

Bempton Cliffs trail guide

Contact Bempton Cliffs

RSPB Bempton Cliffs, Cliff Ln, Bridlington YO15 1JF, UK
bempton.cliffs@rspb.org.uk
01262 422212
@Bempton_Cliffs
Find us on facebook

What will you see?

Our star species

Gannet

Look for stunning gannets cruising around the cliffs and rearing their hungry chicks.

Guillemot

Crammed onto the narrowest cliff ledges, the endearing guillemots bustle for space holding one precious egg between their feet. Once hatched it’s only a matter of weeks before the chicks jump from the cliffs to the relative safety of the sea.

Puffin

Enjoy the comical antics of puffins from mid-April to mid-July. Watch the adults returning from fishing forays at sea with sand eels hanging from their colourful beaks.

Barn owl

The iconic barn owl makes Bempton Cliffs its home year-round. Late afternoon is a great time to see barn owls gliding over the fields in search of a tasty vole or two.

Tree sparrow

Our rare colony of tree sparrows are resident all year round and can be seen in most places on the reserve.

Nature spectacles

Almost half a million seabirds cram onto ledges here, pitched high above the waves. Chris Packham called it the 'Nou Camp of the bird world'. This is life on the edge - the sights, sounds and smells of soaring and swooping seabirds combined with panoramic sea views is unforgettable.

In winter, the reserve is a hot spot for migrants such as redwings and goldcrests and rarities can drop in unannounced. Short-eared and barn owls can often be seen hunting across the nearby fields. Our chirpy tree sparrow colony is a cheery spectacle all year round.

Breeding seabirds start to return, including gannets, puffins, guillemots, razorbills, fulmars, kittiwakes, herring gulls and shags. Farmland birds such as skylarks, tree sparrows, linnets, meadow pipits and reed and corn buntings can be seen. Porpoises can often be seen on calm days while early morning visits may provide sightings of roe deer.

The seabird breeding season is in full swing as nearly half a million seabirds cling to the cliffs. Breeding tree sparrows, whitethroats, corn buntings, skylarks, linnets, reed buntings, rock and meadow pipits can all be seen. A range of the more common butterflies may be seen on sunny days, along with day-flying moths such as cinnabars, burnet moths and occasionally hummingbird hawkmoths. Trailside flora is dominated by red campion.

Most of the seabirds have gone, but gannets are here into October. The autumnal migration can be exciting at Bempton Cliffs owing to its coastal location and being on a headland. Short-eared owls begin to arrive to stay for the winter and there's the arrival of migrants such as willow warblers, chiffchaffs, whitethroats, lesser whitethroats, reed warblers, sedge warblers, goldcrests, stonechats, whinchats, wheatears and redstarts.

Scarce species occur annually such as red-backed shrikes and yellow-browed warblers. October is the best time to witness the winter thrush arrival, often hundreds of redwings, blackbirds, song thrushes and fieldfares occur along with occasional ring ouzels.

This is normally a quiet time of year, but our bracing cliff top walks and fantastic seascapes are probably the best in Yorkshire. A small number of short-eared owls winter here. The Wildlife Garden offers food and shelter to a range of more common garden birds as well as our colony of tree sparrows. The cliff face attracts very few birds except for occasional herring gulls and fulmars, but by January gannets will return in good numbers with occasional days of guillemots in good numbers too.

About Bempton Cliffs

Habitat

The chalk cliffs of Bempton Cliffs are an ideal habitat for a huge range of seabirds. From April to October, they support England's largest population of seabirds. Grassland and scrub along the cliff tops are also home to breeding and wintering farmland birds.

Conservation

Our Bempton Cliffs reserve on the Yorkshire coast protects more than 5km of sea cliffs. The RSPB is managing the reserve for the benefit of its wildlife, which also includes seals and porpoises - with a long-term view to upgrading its protection status.

The breeding seabirds are internationally important. During the breeding season, our cliff top patrols help prevent disturbance by visitors and fishermen.

Unfortunately seabird colonies are vulnerable to environmental threats that lie beyond our control. These include climate change and industrial fishing, which affect the birds' food supplies. We aim to use Bempton Cliffs to highlight these issues, so that key decision makers will take action to safeguard the long-term future of seabirds.

The grassland and scrub at the top of the cliffs are home to farmland birds such as tree sparrows, skylarks and linnets. Short-eared owls also spend winter here. We are cutting back scrub and harrowing grassland in order to increase the population of insects and small mammals on which these birds feed. We also feed the garden birds in our Wildlife Garden.

The seabird spectacle at Bempton Cliffs makes the reserve very popular during summer, while the farmland birds and migrants generate interest at other times of the year. We aim to continue attracting and educating people - inspiring them to support the marine environment.

Partners

Bempton Cliffs has recently been transformed by a redevelopment project - the new centre opened in 2015. We are grateful to our funders for their help: Heritage Lottery Fund, Coastal Communities Fund, Biffa Award.

We are also grateful to RDPE Leader for our Discovery Shelter - a new hub providing additional indoor space for school & group activities all year round and part funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.

Site information

Bempton's internationally important breeding seabirds make the cliffs both a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Protection Area (SPA).

Each year nearly half a million seabirds pack the cliff ledges between Bempton and Flamborough, many to find a mate and rear their young. From February to October, thousands of the UK's largest seabird return to the cliffs - the biggest mainland gannetry in England. Six, safe cliff-edge viewing platforms give visitors stunning close-up views of life on the edge.

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Activities and events

Activities for children and families

We have self-guided trails (including a Puffin Trail, Gannet Trail and Scavenger Bug Hunt Trail) and Discovery Backpacks for hire throughout the year. The backpacks contain binoculars, spotter sheets, a bird book and magnifying bug pot so that kids can explore the reserve and get closer to nature. Add to this our Wildlife Walks (which run from May to end August), and our Binocular and Telescope Open Weekends and there are activities to suit everyone.

Leisure activities

Every year from May to September, we run a number of spectacular seabird cruises from nearby Bridlington Harbour. Puffin and gannet cruises take you to the seabird colony for close-up views of puffins, gannets, guillemots and more. Our Diving Gannet cruises capture the UK's largest seabird diving into the North Sea for food. And our single Seabird Pelagic Cruise heads out to sea in search of skuas, terns, shearwaters and more. Full cruise details and dates are given in the events listings.

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