Bempton Report

Is the photograph worth the risk?

It was sunny, hot and wonderfully chaotic - by the time I came away it was filling up with a lot of people.   Welcome to Bempton reserve on a hot and sunny Sunday.   Hot tip - avoid the place if you can on Sunday, and I would suspect Saturday as well.   By 10am when I called it a day there was no place at the best spots for photographs.  Fortunately I had got there at 6 am and so had a much better opportunity to capture the birds.

I have to say it was somewhat anti climatic.  This was due in part to the fact that few of the eggs had hatched and so the only opportunity was to take photographs very similar to the week before.   I found the most interesting birds were the tree sparrows and swallows.  I kept chasing after the kestrel but due to a combination of being in the wrong place, i.e. down wind and the mobbing by other birds I wasn't able to get the shots I wanted.  Maybe next time.

I found that the most interesting photographs I made are not of the sea birds but of the birds on the land of the reserve - an example is the tree sparrow and its newly fledged young.  To see more photographs click here.

Tree Sparrow

Now for the crowds.  Perhaps I am somewhat mad, I have noted this already, but the best time of day to get any reasonable photographs is first thing in the morning.  This is not just because of the light but also the crowds.  I can understand bird watchers or the curious member of the public not realising this but not serious photographers.   As I said before by 10am the places was really filling up, and one of the most conspicuous group who arrived at this time was a number of photographs with very long lens.  

Now I am in no position to say anything about this as I have 2 1D's with long lens attached, one on a large tripod.  However, I made the effort to get up early to get the best chance of a shot.  So why did these photographers not do the same?   After all some of the equipment cost as much as mine, so why not turn up early enough to make the most of this equipment?  I'm sure there are a whole range of reasons for this but I suspect that some of the reasons may not be the most charitable to the individual.  This is unfair as it does mean that I have the reserve to mostly to myself so why complain?  

One final thing on this subject.   If you wished to apply a feminist analysis there did seem to be an awful lost of men with very long lenses.  Boys and their toys I suppose.

And finally - fishing.   I was walking back towards the visitor centres when I saw two men with climbing equipment and some large poles.  Now I thought that they were RSPB staff members going down the cliffs for surveying purposes.  Little did I know that they were local fisher men who also are keen rock climbers.   As I stood and watched them decent the 300 foot + cliffs I just couldn't understand the need for this.  Surely the fish are just as good further around the coast where you don't have to climb down some of the biggest cliffs in England.  Each to their own?

So I won't be back at Bempton before the end of the month.   It will be interesting to see how things have progressed.

Boy am I tired

The first images out of the card...well sort of

I am officially mad.  Yes Mad!   The reason for this insanity?   Well I went to bed at 8 o Clock last night so that I could get up at 2am.  Why? you may well ask.   I wanted to get to Bempton Cliffs for dawn.  However, this is not the depth of my insanity - oh no.  Instead of waking up at 2am I woke at 12:30am and was on the road by 1:30am - 30 minutes before I was going to get up.  Was it worth it?   Yes it was and I would do it again - just not tomorrow!    I'm currently uploading the files as I write this and so I might be able to publish one or two today...then again this may well have to wait until tomorrow.   I may be mad but I feel very happy with my madness.

Reflection on Bempton...so far

I have just finished working on the photographs from my last session at Bempton.  I have to say overall I am very pleased with what I have captured.  I have created a new collection in Lightroom called Bempton and this allows me to review all of my photographs taken over the last two years.   This was created for two reasons:  firstly, to review the work to date, what trends have I got in the photographs?  What have I missed? What do I need to improve on?   

The second is perhaps more important.  I have just received my first copy of 'The Iris'.  This is the magazine of the RPS Nature Group.   It is a really interesting read, not for its editorial style but rather for the information it contains about RPS distinctions.  This is where the Bempton collection comes in.  I am going to submit a portfolio for my ARPS next year and I need a working title.  To date I have come up with two working titles:  'Birds of the British Coast' and 'Birds of Bempton Cliffs'.   Now these are just working titles but they do allow me to start to structure any submission I might make.

With this in mind it is clear that the Bempton collection falls into both title headings.  What I need to do now is be very dispassionate about the photographs of Bempton, not at all easy but a worth while exercise and try and answer the three questions set above.   So what are the trends?  To date I have captured a large number of Gannet photographs, perhaps I might consider 'Gannets of Bempton cliffs'?  Maybe, but this is not what I am doing at the moment.  One noticeable trend is that the I have very few photographs of Kittiwakes, Guillemots and Razorbills flying.  I also have a total lack of Puffins.  This starts to give me a shooting list for my next visit.  Also I have no chick or young bird photographs - again another add to the list.

So the process has started.  I won't really commit to this until after the BWPA photographs are submitted, again these two work hand in hand so that is a bonus.   Lets see what the months bring.  One final thing.  The photograph of the two Gannets above is unlikely to succeed in any submission to the nature group for an ARPS as it is too interpretive rather than factual - well that is what I think at the moment.  Hopefully I will find that this is not the case but we have to wait and see.

Some Early Bempton Photographs

So far I have uploaded over 1700 images - I have still got 3 4Gb cards to go.  This has been one of the most productive days I have ever had.  I really am looking forward to making some fantastic photographs.  Lets just hope my early optimism is well founded.

Just back from Bempton

Just got back from another fantastic day at Bempton Cliffs.   The wind blew and it blew!   The reserve is really special first thing in the morning when you are the only one there.   I have started to upload the files to Lightroom - 9 x 4GB cards and a 2GB card - quite a few images to process - this is the first of many photographs.  God I'm tired.

Not just Sea Birds

Still slowly working through the images from Bempton.   It is a wonderful place to see birds that you wouldn't necessarily associate with the sea.  Here is a selection of birds I captured whilst walking to and from the main sites.

Meadow Pipit

The fields that back onto the cliffs are full of Meadow Pipits, Skylarks and Reed Buntings.  They usually sit on the cliff edge fence and watch the world go by.  You can approach them to within a reasonable distance before they fly off.

Kestrel

We watched this Kestrel for some time.   As usual with any bird of prey they didn't seem to be doing anything but sitting with an uninterested air to them.  This Kestrel was in fact watching something just across the ravine.  Suddenly it was off and flew into the other side of the ravine  with a loud thud.   We couldn't see if it had caught anything as it flew off towards the sea.

Jackdaw

As with most other members of the Corvis family the the Jackdaw has an eye for the main chance.   This one was sitting on a fence by the main car park on the look out for scraps of food that may be thrown its way.  Whilst this is not a sea bird there are a large number of Jackdaws that nest on the cliffs next to Kittiwakes and Guillemots.

Seabird City

Staple Neuk - Bempton Cliffs

Visiting a sea bird colony is always an attack on all of your senses.  Usually, first there is an attack on your sense of vision.  Where to look?  How do you capture such a complex and magnificent vision?  What was that?  Which birds are where?   It takes a few minutes just to overcome the sense awe you feel.   Whilst you are doing this the next attack on your senses sinks in.   The smell and taste of the colony.   Once experienced never forgotten.  An intoxicating mix of fish and bird droppings.  The air becomes thick with this acrid atmosphere.  It imbues your mind so much that whenever you see a photograph of a bird colony suddenly you can taste and smell the colony all over again.

Gannet over Bempton Cliffs

As this sensory overload takes hold another layer is added.  The noise.  Usually it is the painful wailing of the Kittiwake, birds that seems to be in constant pain.  Of course they are not it is just the impression that their cry has on you saturated senses.  As your hearing settlers down you start to strain for different cries in the wind.   You identify a cry and make an identification only to realise that it was a trick of the wind.   If you are near a gannet colony then there is the endless bickering of neighbours who are protecting their few centimetres of barren cliff.   You stand and wonder how on earth are they able to cling onto such a precipitous nest site?  Of course to the gannet there is nothing wrong with this.  It is just what gannets do.

Gannet looking for nesting material

Then overhead you feel the wind rush as a Fulmar rushes by.   You look up and the bird gives you an imperious glance as glides effortless on the updrafts.  At that moment you know what it is like to see an angel floating in the clouds.

Gannet

Then at sea you notice more birds.  They bob and heave with the waves.  A small fishing boat slowly makes its way past the colony and you see a flock of screaming gulls following its progress to port.   If you have come to the colony on a boat these are the same gulls that hitch a lift on the captain's cabin, all the time their bright beady eyes scanning the horizon for the next feeding opportunity.

Fulmar

The first time you visit a sea bird colony it is unforgettable.  Something that makes you want come back again and again.  Each time you are never disappointed.  Each time seeing something new.  Then you realise that this an ephemeral experience.  Once the chicks have flown the colony empties until the next summer.   You have to move your attention to the autumn and winter natural spectacles.  All the time waiting for the days to lengthen so that you can experience the assault on the sense once more.

Bempton Cliffs

The first of hopefully many

As I write this I am almost falling asleep at the keyboard.  We have had an extraordinary day at Bempton.  The weather was brilliant, sunny and clear.   The birds, as usual, were superb it was really worth getting up at 3:30 in the morning.   Even the sunrise this morning was exceptional, I just wish i had the time to stop and capture a few photographs, but we were on a time table - we must get to Bempton early to get the best light and views before the crowds arrive.

I will publish more details as I finish processing the photographs, and hopefully after a good night sleep.  For now I have only been able to work on one photograph - not bad seeing that this was only taken this morning and I had to drive 100 miles back home before I could do this.

Off to Bempton in the morning

We're off the the Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve in the morning, and when I say morning I mean it is a 4am start.  Why such an ungodly hour to set off?   Well it takes nearly two hour to get there so we should arrive around about 6am.  The reserve at this time is deserted and you get the pick of the photographic locations.  As the day wears on then you get a lot more people there and you don't have the freedom to roam that you have earlier in the day.   Also the light starts to become too harsh, it is, after all nearly May and so the sun is getting quite high in the sky.

Gannet

So what do we hope to see in the morning.  Well there will be an ever increasing Gannet colony and if we are really lucky we should see the first Puffins of the season. 

Bempton Cliffs

The Bempton reserve is a strange place.   It is about a mile from the village and when you arrive all you can see are fields and the sea, there is no indication of a bird colony at all.   However, as you walk to the sea you start to become aware of noise of the birds, yet very little sign of them. Then wham you are on top of some of the tallest chalk cliffs in the country and below you are all the birds stacked high up the cliff face.  This stretches for miles along the Yorkshire coast and is a fantastic spectacle in its self.   Lets just hope the weather holds.