A day at Bempton Cliffs

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

Myself and friend Carsten Dieterich travelled there to capture the seabirds, especially the UKs only lone Albatross named “Albert”. Luckily we got great views of Albert who made numerous sweeps close to us, back and forth for quite sometime before his venture out to sea. Fortunately we had great weather and light. I used two Canon R6 cameras, one with an EF adapter using the L series Canon 100-400 MK2 lens which was perfect for the closer range shots. The other Canon R6 had my RF F11 800mm prime for the more distant work. It’s handy having two cameras with different focal range lenses as changing lenses can mean missed shots.

The nesting Gannets, Puffins, Guillemots, Razorbills and Fulmars made for some great subjects to capture. Whilst watching the birds a glance back behind us revealed a Peregrine in the sky, alas he disappeared before we could raise a camera! We didn’t hardly see any birds with food in their beaks, a little early for that as there was very few with hatched chicks at the time we went. A splendid day I can recommend to all.