Filey and Bempton

 My regular Wednesday visit to Scarborough to take granddaughter shopping and as usual I spend a bit of time birding. There was a lot of traffic on the A64 so I only had an hour at Filey Dams before going shopping.

The weather was ok, sunny spells, but still a cold edge to the wind. I could hear at least 3 chiffchaffs singing as I was in the car park and then the song of a blackcap. I managed to locate the bird, but it was not out in the open.

I heard a blackcap at Blacktoft on my last visit, but this was the first one I had seen this year, number 140 on my year list. A blue tit was inspecting one of the nest boxes

This male mute swan chased all the canada and greylag geese away,

 but ignored this pink foot

an oystercatcher had a bit of a stretch

Mr and Mrs Gadwall were having a preen

lots of sand martins were flying fairly high as they hunted insects, a pleasant end to my hour.

After our shopping trip, my granddaughter fancied a bit of a walk as she had been using her computer for several hours earlier. She decided that she would like to go to Bempton to try and see a puffin.

It was just 5pm when we arrived and the staff were closing the visitor centre. We walked down the path to the cliffs and turned right. Lots of celandines and red campion along the cliff top. The gannet colony was very busy.

this gannet had landed in the wrong spot and was attacked from all sides.

Kittiwakes were clinging on to the cliff ledges

a pair of fulmars were on a cliff ledge

lots of guillemots and razorbills on the sea, but no puffins on the ledges. We eventually managed to see some flying back to the cliffs. A pleasant end to the day. Good Friday I am at Blacktoft, will sedge and reed warblers have arrived by then? Chance of a gropper perhaps?