Today's Jaunt Along North Cliff (and the beach)

 It was another blustery morning with a strong Westerly wind today, but when the sun came out eventually it was pleasantly warm - well, it was as I walked back on the beach, sheltered from the wind by the cliffs 😂 only 7.5 miles but good enough.

I heard at least one Sandwich Tern over the sea as I walked past the Floral Hall and later saw three from the cliffs.From the promenade I could see Gannets diving into the sea in Bridlington Bay, so I decided to walk on the cliffs to get closer and hopefully get some photos.

The hedgerow along the landward side going towards the boat club is always worth watching. Not this morning particularly, although the Tree Sparrow flock seems to be doing OK. Took pics of Goldfinch and Blackbird just 'cos I could.

The first interesting thing I saw was a Common Darter.

female Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum)

female Common Darter

I wasn't expecting dragonflies along here as (apart from the sea, which isn't fresh water) there are no bodies of water as far as I'm aware. There are unexplored caravan sites here though!

The usual birds were up and doing - Reed Bunting, Skylark and Meadow Pipits. One obliging bird flew close enough for a shot or two.

Skylark

Skylark

Out at sea I could see the Gannets a bit better but they were still well out of reach for decent photos though. I took some anyway and include them here just for completeness of record for the morning - seeing them diving was what brought me here after all.

Immature Gannet going south

Adult Gannet diving

Gannet's splashing dive

Another Gannet diving

Adult Gannet

Gannet diving

Gannet rising to surface after its dive

It was much more impressive through the bins than in the photos, honest 😀

I scrambled down the cliff to the beach and walked back out of the wind, which was much more pleasant. A couple of Oystercatchers were feeding on the shoreline.

Oystercatcher