I like boat trips – I never have to drive.
Sunday was a lovely day, and there’s the rub – lovely weather often means not many seabirds!
What we needed on the Yorkshire Belle was a strong wind and heaving seas – but there’s a rub there too – if the weather’s too bad then the boat stays in Bridlington harbour.
But the sea was calm which meant that it was easier to spot any mammals breaking the water surface. We saw quite a few Harbour Porpoises – like black cartwheels. Further up the coast at Whitby, there was talk of Humpback and Minke Whales the day before.
The birds weren’t bad but not very numerous: a single Sooty Shearwater, a single Manx Shearwater, a few Fulmars, an Arctic Skua, a few Red-throated Divers, an immature Mediterranean Gull and a few Puffins were the highlights.
But it’s always fun going to sea, and the 120 or so of us made a friendly boat full.
You get a new perspective on life from the sea. The land looks rather small, and the people on it seem constrained in a way that we mariners weren’t!
The cliffs of Flamborough and Bempton looked quite small from the sea – but it looks like a hell of a drop from the clifftop.
Many thanks to the East Yorkshire RSPB Local Group for organising these cruises – I think it’s the second or third I’ve been on. Why not try the last of the season on 4 October – a good time for Pom Skuas I’d have thought.
When we returned to Bridlington it was midday and a boat-load of birders dispersed to find fish and chips which we all felt that we deserved for all our hard work of bird watching for three hours or so.
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I read Bridlington as ‘Bird-lington’ for some reason and thought, how appropriate!