For those of you who do read my blog (in the event it’s ever updated!) you may recall last July when I drove up to Bempton Cliffs RSPB reserve in East Yorkshire with George and Matt to try and see the North Seas (mainly in Germany) long staying Black-browed Albatross that had showed brilliantly on the Friday but had then sodded off and left a lots of dipping birders staring out to sea.
Well fast forward to this year and it had returned and seemed to be staying faithful to the cliffs albeit with a couple of days here and there where it was presumed to have gone off fishing. I duly booked off the 24th June to go and see it but with news the previous evening of it having flown out to see I wasn’t hopeful of connecting. As it was I reached Sheffield and stopped in a service station hoping for positive news which never came so I went home and sulked!
Fast forward again and after going missing midweek it returned halfway through Friday 9th July so I made plans to go for it again. Nobody was free to join me so I went solo and left home at 10.30pm and arrived at the car park at 2.50am. My plan was to try and get some sleep in the car then head out to the viewing platform for about 6am as it hadn’t been seen much before that time before but I just couldn’t get comfortable and just before 4am birders started stirring and heading of so I thought I would join them! On arrival at the platform is was a bit foggy and the bird wasn’t where it had roosted. Had I dipped again?
But then at 4.50am the shout we’d all been hoping for went up. “There it is!!” And sure enough a couple of seconds later the enormous BLACK-BROWED ALBATROSS loomed into view and flew around the cliffs for about 10 minutes before dropping down onto the cliff in amongst the Gannets. Here it showed for a minute or two before moving out of view. Happy that I’d seen it in flight and perched up I made the decision to head home and try to beat the traffic. A brief stop on the way back for a nap then I was home by 9.50am to find my family still in their pyjamas! Ok I didn’t get the reach out and touch it views that others had had along the cliff top but I didn’t care. What a stunning bird and I’m so glad I don’t have to go back and try again!
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