Bempton Cliffs
I first became aware of Bempton Cliffs a few years ago. I’d heard stories about this magnificent place of towering limestone cliffs, stunning natural beauty, and at certain points of the year - England’s largest seabird colony. In recent years, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Bempton on more than one occasion and it has become one of my favourite places to spend an afternoon.
Set along the beautiful Yorkshire Coast, RSPB Bempton is part of the Flamborough Headland. Between March and August, around half a million birds gather here to breed and make the cliffside their home. A wide variety of seabirds including Gannets, Puffins, Kittiwakes, Guillemots and Razorbills build nests tucked into the narrow edges of the cliffs.
There’s an ancient feeling about the landscape itself - the cliffs standing against the North Sea, weathered by time, wind, and waves. The cliff-top paths meander between viewing points scattered with wildflowers, patches of yellow and soft pink move in the breeze against the chalky grassland. Much like being in woodland - it feels like you could be at any point in history when you’re immersed in a landscape like this.
A symphony of sound fills the air. The constant movement and calls of the birds, the waves below and the wind all around you. It feels alive in a way that’s difficult to properly describe until you’re standing there yourself.
On my latest visit, I took the plunge and finally bought my own set of binoculars - a small rite of passage into my fully fledged birder era. I enjoyed spending a long time simply watching - gannets gliding effortlessly against the cliffs and razorbills clustered together on the rock face below. Places like this have a way of making you feel very small, but in a comforting rather than unsettling way. Standing at the edge of the cliffs looking out across the vastness of the sea, everything else seems to quieten for a while. I feel a sense of peace wash over me as I become absorbed in watching these little worlds on the cliffside. My friend and I both experience Bempton as a “Thin Place”. Thin Places are geographical locations where the veil between the physical and spiritual world is considered thin. Often featuring deep peace, ancient history and dramatic natural beauty.
There’s a stillness beneath all the movement and there is something very grounding about the rhythm of the waves, the birds returning again and again to the same cliffs, and the feeling of standing in a place shaped by the elements that feels as old as time itself. This is a place you can hear the earth breathe.
Bempton is somewhere I find myself returning to again and again, and there’s lots more to see than just the sea birds - I’m already looking forward to my next visit.