There are some birds that I never expect to see, either in the UK or elsewhere. Black-browed Albatross, or any Albatross for that matter, is one of those birds. I'm unlikely to ever find myself on a bespoke trip in the Southern Atlantic, and I'm not really one for spending days looking out to sea on the off-chance that one day one will drift through my telescope view as a blurry blob in the haze. So the chances of seeing one were virtually zero. Until Thursday 2nd July 2020.
During that evening two birders on Bempton Cliffs were lucky enough to come across one as it drifted above them, eventually landing with a small group of Gannets on the cliff top. It stuck around for a while allowing a few lucky people great views. The Gannets weren't too happy with it and pushed it off; it left the cliffs and flew strongly north past Filey Brigg and was last seen briefly further north again.
Although I expected it to have headed off along the coast never to be seen again, I thought it would be worth taking a chance so I headed over to Bempton Cliffs for dawn the next day, speculatively hoping it would appear at some point during the day, but not really expecting it. If there was no Albatross it wouldn't have been a wasted day as Bempton is one of the best sites in the country, always something interesting to look at and a spectacular place to be.
I arrived before dawn and sat in the car as it got a little lighter. At dawn it was misty and raining lightly, and I headed down to New Roll-up viewpoint where there were around five others looking in all directions. One was a local and after around 15 minutes he took a phone call from a friend who was a couple of miles down the coast at Flamborough Head. I couldn't believe the news that was being relayed - the Albatross was flying around the north side of the Headland. It should have been visible distantly through the various scopes that were desperately trained in the direction of Flamborough, but it was murky and no-one could pick it up.
There was a difficult decision to be made - should we leave and head to Flamborough, which would have taken around 20 minutes in total, by which time it could have drifted north and we would have missed it. Two of the small group left and took the chance, the rest of us remained in place and preyed it would move closer towards Bempton. A handful of others arrived. A couple more phone calls suggested it was still there, but the news this time was that it seemed to be slowly moving out form North Landing up the coast. At this point I realised I might have a chance of seeing this bird and things got serious. Someone spotted it, moving out to sea in the distance, surely it wasn't going to dissapear? It veered back in towards the coast, but into one of the many bays and out of site.
It came out of Thornwick Bay between Flamborough and Bempton and a couple more of the group got onto it before it went back into the next bay, but importantly it was getting closer. It then again came out from behind one of the cliff points and I saw it - huge, unmistakable, majestic. The Albatross continued towards us, around the corner again into Staple Newk.
The Albatross spent the next ten minutes flying in and out of the cove, trying to land with the Gannets but never quite making it. I moved down to Staple Newk itself and briefly got some shots of it a little closer as it glided in and out. It then drifted north past my previous viewpoint and out of sight further north. Everyone present was ecstatic.
Over the next couple of hours it wasn't seen again but more people were arriving, and by late morning there were several hundred people on the cliff tops. A huge roar was suddenly heard around 11am as the bird re-appeared from the North end of the cliffs, lingering for a while at various points and giving stunning views as it drifted within metres of those crammed on the various viewpoints. I actually saw some jumping up and down with excitement and high-fiving as it flew past them.
In the interim few hours it had been sat on the cliffs somewhere, evident by the patch of mud it had acquired on its breast.
The Albatross looped around again then moved quickly north along the cliffs, and was soon gone from the Bempton area as it presumably continued up the coast.
Despite more people arriving through the afternoon and the next morning it didn't appear again and had clearly moved on.
This is without doubt the best bird I have seen in the UK, and to experience it at such a great location as Bempton Cliffs was a special morning.
Thanks for looking!
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