Shortly before 6am we left Macc to drive the three hours to sunny Bridlington Harbour to meet up with Steve Race the days organiser (he recently featured on BBC Countryfile) and seven other keen photographers. We had booked on an ‘Above and Below’ photography experience of Bempton cliffs – below the cliffs on a boat in the morning then on the top of the cliffs in the afternoon.We caught our boat out into the North Sea in good time with the aim being to try and get images of the Gannets diving for fish. We only went about half a mile off the coast stocked with five large buckets of fish. Along the way to our spot we are able to catch images of Fulmars, Puffins, Razorbills, Guillemots and various Gulls riding on the waves. As soon as the boat captain began dispensing the fish into the sea the Gannets started circling and then diving at speeds up to 60mph like arrows splashing into the sea. As Gannets do, they would then argue and fight over fish ownership.
It was really tough to get actual diving pictures as the birds moved so fast. A higher success rate was achieved by focusing on the fish and waiting for the Gannets to emerge and be pounced on by their fellows. We must have had around 200 – 300 birds circling our boat and over 40 minutes or so we were able to get many images of the feeding frenzy. It was such an incredible experience to see these birds diving so close to the boat at such amazing speeds. They were so close that long lenses were not really needed. After lunch we headed by car to Bempton Cliffs for some top down images of Kittiwakes and their chicks, mating Razorbills and lots more Gannet activity from the different viewpoint.
Steve and his Yorkshire Coast Nature team run these trips about 10 times a year in the summer months so if you are in any way interested look them up.
David Tolliday, Steve Gresty, Conor Molloy.
