Northern Holiday 2018, Post 6: Puffin Quest at RSPB Bempton Cliffs

You might well be wondering why the first bird in a post with the word 'Puffin' in the title is a ... Guillemot! Having posted a few photos of the Black Guillemot or Tystie a few days ago, it seemed only right, in the name of balance, to post an 'ordinary' Guillemot, too. Seen in this pose, there is something very 'Penguin' about these seabirds.

We were on the last lap of our holiday by this stage, and enjoying bright sunshine at RSPB Bempton Cliffs on the Yorkshire coast. There were Razorbills ...

... flapping about ...

... and long rows of Gannets and Guillemots along the chalk cliff face.

Many of the birds were with their mates, though it was the tail end of the nesting season.

Every so often a Gannet would soar past us.

Suddenly my eyes alerted on a pair of distinctive orange feet which simply had to belong to a Puffin!

There were not many Puffins to be seen, and I guess this was due to the fact that their numbers are down generally and in this part of the world; and also due to the fact that some would have reared their Pufflings by this stage and headed back out to sea. There is a fascinating RSPB post here about counting Puffins.

There may not have been many,
but the ones we saw delighted us, as they always do.

Puffins will always be the showstealers for me, but I love to see the cliffs filled with a healthy mix of seabirds. The photo below shows a Gannet surrounded by Kittiwakes.

Scarborough is not far up the coast, 

and after an excellent Italian meal on the harbourside, 

we looked up at the castle ...

and across to the sunlit cliffs ...

... as the sun set over the water.

Northern Holiday 2018, Post 3: The Mull of Galloway in Scotland

We love places 'on the edge', and the Mull of Galloway in Scotland at the southern tip of the Rhins peninsula qualifies as just such a location. If you are wondering about the destinations on the signpost above, we reckon the Lands End sign has had a bit of a turn!

The peninsula is about 30 miles in length. We stopped here at this beach near Ardwell for a picnic lunch, and enjoyed watching some swimmers with their floating gear. 

There were a number of Six-spot Burnet moths hatching out and flying around, which was lovely to see as lepidoptera had been conspicuous by their absence this year in some places. The Six-spot is one of the day-flying moth species on the Big Butterfly Count chart.

It was soon time to head down to the lighthouse. It marks Scotland's most southerly point, just as the one at the Lizard marks the most southerly point of Cornwall. The Galloway lighthouse has 115 steps to the top, and I am quite prepared to take that on trust! The lighthouse was built in 1830 by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of the writer Robert Louis. Ballantrae, as in The Master of Ballantrae, is a bit further round the coast towards Ayr.

The Mull of Galloway has a resident population of Rose Chafer beetles. These scarab-like insects shine with iridescence and can be found on the thistles and umbellifers like Hogweed that grow in this area. It took me some time to locate one of these beetles, but once I had got my eye in, we saw quite a few. In some lights they looked bronze and in others, a bright viridian green. The 'aurata' in the scientific nomenclature, Cetonia aurata, presumably implies a glint of gold. These insects always remind me of the Rose-Beetle Man in My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell! You might be interested in a post about these strange creatures on The Cabinet of Curiosities blog. Some years ago the RSPB produced a Rose Chafer pin-badge, but I don't think it is available any more.

 As we made our way towards the lighthouse, we saw a Linnet in the distance ...

There were drifts of cotton-grass in the boggy areas...

... and Goldfinches in among the thistles.

The path to the RSPB Visitor Centre...

 ... takes you this way, through a sheltered dip in the landscape.

It proved a good spot for Common Blue butterflies. 

You can see the RSPB Centre top right. 

There are a few artefacts on display at the lighthouse. This Bible caught my eye: it was provided by the Northern Lighthouse Board for the Ailsa Craig lighthouse off the Ayrshire coast. The lighthouse keeper's life must have been a lonely and difficult one at times, and I imagine members of the Board decided to provide spiritual reading material for its staff in much in the same way that the Gideons distribute Bibles for patients in hospital today.

David saw a puffin here at the Mull on a previous visit. We failed to see any this time around, but there were plenty of Guillemots on the cliff ledges way down below us. 

My next holiday post will include their black cousins, or Tysties, which we saw up the coast on the western side of The Rhins peninsula at Portpatrick. 

Northern Holiday 2018, Post 2: St Abb's Head and Eyemouth

 

The beauty of St Abb's Head 

We spent a very happy day at St Abb's Head, just over the Scottish border, relaxing in the fine weather and enjoying the wildlife. There is a huge colony of Guillemots: you can see a few of them in the photo below. 

And here is a close-up, taken with my zoom at full stretch from the cliff top. 

There were Kittiwakes, too ...

I can't say that butterflies were in abundance but there were a few about despite a slight sea breeze. It's pretty hard to tell, of course, but I'm guessing the one below is a Wall Brown. 

David managed to see a Northern Brown Argus: we know because his sighting was confirmed by the reserve warden. While he was off in search of rarities, I sketched the rocks along the coast and kept an eye out for any butterflies like the one below that landed within range. I suspect it is a Common Blue, but it's hard to tell for sure ...

My cliff-side sketch ... (The painting I normally attempt is pretty abstract, and while I often do a quick sketch of a ruined abbey or castle on holiday, a rugged coastline was definitely a new challenge.)

I amy have missed the Northern Brown Argus, but while we were enjoying our picnic lunch, this lovely Painted lady touched down. That must have been about 28 June, and it remains my only Painted lady sighting of the season. Perhaps I have just not been in the right place at the right time, but I suspect there is more to it than that so I have added our sighting to Butterfly Conservation Painted Lady Map.

We returned to the National Trust for Scotland tearoom for Earl Grey and tiffin, and spotted two Yellowhammers and a Linnet as we made our way back to the cliff. 

We tore ourselves away eventually, made a brief visit to the Priory remains at Coldingham, where the DigVentures archaeology team were preparing for a talk prior to their excavation. 

No trip to this corner of the world is complete in my opinion without a detour to Eyemouth harbour with its resident seal. I believe there are several seals, but we tend to think we always see the same bubble-blowing one! 

You can see the entrance to the harbour and other views, including a smuggler's residence called Gunsgreen House, in the photos below.