Bempton Cliffs

I first came here when I was 19, with my friend Pete. For three years we caught the bus every year to Spurn, Hornsea and Bempton. That is a long time ago, and since leaving East Yorkshire I’ve not been back.

So a rather special day trip, a bit of a trip down memory lane. Lots of changes. An RSPB visitor centre, café and shop. More facilities. And changing bird populations. Lots more gannets, far fewer fulmars - and no shags ( for the uninitiated, the cliff breeding and slightly crested cormorant).

So ...... half a million breeding seabirds makes this a rather special place. Lots of people get very excited about puffins, but let’s hear it for the other auks, razorbills and guillemots. I love the sound of kittiwakes. And those cigar shaped gannets are real characters - this is the only mainland breeding site in the UK, and their numbers here have increased hugely. Fulmars have been hit hard by plastic pollution - tragic, they are wonderful to watch as they drift around these chalk cliffs, the highest in England.

But as well as the birds, the coastal scenery here is just magical. Fields full of grasses and wild flowers, derelict buildings ( the former RAF radar station) a reminder of times past, and those sweeping views out to the North Sea.