Yorkshire Coast Nature Custom Birding or Wildlife Trips, England - 1 Day

Great long weekend in Co Cork. Very good pelagics with great sightings, common dolphins around the boat for ages, a minke whale so close we could hear it breath! Birds great big numbers of shearwaters and petrels. Good food, good accommodation good company.

amazing, brilliant - had to book again as laughed with joy so much almost forgot to take any photos ........... now an annual treat!!

In June, my wife and I visited Yorkshire for the first time, from the US. In planning our trip, we wanted to devote one day out of our week there to birding, and we were particularly interested in shore birds. I found Yorkshire Coast Nature online, but none of their scheduled tours fit our available times, so I emailed Richard Baines, Director, and asked about a arranging a private tour. He wrote back shortly thereafter, with a plan for a full day of birding outside of Scarborough with guide Margaret Boyd. The price was quite reasonable. We were favored with excellent weather, and the day was a success. Margaret was easy going, pleasant, and extremely knowledge. We met at an arranged location at 8:30 am, and Margaret drove us first to Bempton Cliffs Nature Reserve. It was better than we had imagined possible. Thousands upon thousands of birds! We saw Guillemots, Gannets, Razorbills, Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Herring Gull—and of course, Puffins. And we managed to get remarkably close to many of them, especially the Gannets. Aside from the birds, the views were breathtaking. We spent a lot of time there. On the way out, as a bonus, we even saw a swallow coming and going to her nest, feeding her young. Margaret then drove us to Flamborough Bird Observatory. On the way in we saw a pheasant (which we enjoyed, though we understand it wasn't all that special for locals) and some yellow warblers. Though the number and variety of birds was not as vast, the cliffs were even more spectacular than at Bempton, and we saw a great number of puffins, and a fair amount of bird activity in the water. We had a leisurely lunch break, and then went for a nice walk through some woods, where we heard more birds than we saw, though with Margaret's help it was very instructive. Our last stop was Filey Dam Nature Reserve, a freshwater marsh, with a couple of bird hides. Although not as awesome as the seabirds at the cliffs, the view was quite lovely, and the variety was nice: we saw a number of ducks, swans, geese, gulls, and coots. Margaret dropped us at our car at 5 pm. The entire day was fantastic.