What inspires me to inspire others Part 2

Wed 20th Jul, 2022

Continuing on from where we left… this time instead of waking up to the echo of bird song, I opened my curtains at 6.00 am to mere silence and a blanket of snow covering the landscape before me. The birds didn’t want to wake up with me this time, but never the less my adrenaline kicked in as I thought about what I was going to experience in the snow-stricken forests.

We met our lovely group just outside the forest, where they were hyped with excitement about the imminent goshawk safari. The frost certainly wasn’t stopping these eager birders from getting a glimpse of this astounding raptor.

Goshawk above the forest in North Yorkshire © Richard Baines

Not even an hour into the day and we hear it, ‘kee, kee, kee’ the majestic sound of a goshawk somewhere deep in the forests beside us. A sound you could never forget, a sound that gives you butterflies in your stomach as you know such a spectacular bird is looming nearby. We were lucky enough for this sound not to be our only experience of the day, with a crisp white landscape, it made raptor spotting almost effortless.

A male goshawk soared behind us, stunning everyone into silence as we quietly scuffled with our binoculars, telescopes, and cameras to capture the perfect shot of this powerful and majestic bird. One sighting of a goshawk is enough to make anyone fall in love with birding, but that day we got six. Undisputedly, Rich and I were checking for pulses by the end of the day. This epic day was over but my birding adventures have just begun.

Black-browed Albatross at Bempton summer 2022 © Steve Race

A Black-browed Albatross was the star of the show on my next work placement day, we were leading a really nice couple from Massachusetts on their tailor-made Birding Discovery Day in East Yorkshire.

The most footloose and fancy-free bird in the Northern Hemisphere. This astounding bird has all the characteristics to be the most eligible avifauna in all the land, with its 8-foot wingspan and black smoky eyeshadow. The only thing letting this bird down is all of its mates are in the Southern Hemisphere!

Black-browed Albatross at Bempton summer 2022 © Steve Race

We caught a glimpse of this mighty seabird on the edge of Bempton Cliffs, incognito amongst all the pelagic birds that called these cliffs home. Gannets were the biggest (after Albert) and loudest birds there, as they exhibited their raucous, throaty calls and spectacular swooping dives into the sea. The sight was mesmerizing, a mecca for marine birds. The twitching gods blessed us with sightings of a Ring Ouzel, a scarce migratory bird, and a hunting barn owl as it nosedived multiple times into the long grass. Our special guests of the day were astounded with all the magnificence they had experienced in just one morning. And there was still more to come.

Atlantic Puffin © Steve Race

We followed the coastline along to Flamborough, to encounter the puffin-painted cliff faces. This was a very different experience to Albert the lonely Albatross. On these cliffs there wasn’t a puffin in sight that was standing solitary. Each vibrant orange beaked bird with another as they canoodled in their nests. Everyone dreams of seeing puffins, their colourful beaks and petite structure makes them enchanting. Amongst the tiny black and white bodies, every so often we would spot a razorbill. A staggeringly beautiful seabird, with the most ferocious name. Their leather-look feathers glistened as the afternoons’ sun bounced off their backs, creating a diamond-like shimmer along patches of the cliff face.

Bottle-nosed Dolphins on the Yorkshire coast summer 2022 © Jono Leadley

Our day on the coast ended with a pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphin’s racing along the horizon, a flawless day ending as if it were a movie!

Maddie Brown

Maddie is a second year Geography student at York Saint John’s University. Maddie has been working with Yorkshire Coast Nature in 2022 on her industrial placement.