Starting spring with renewed joy for getting outdoors in Yorkshire? Keep your eye out for wildlife making an appearance to enjoy the season themselves, it’s a great time of year to spot many wonderful birds in the skies of Yorkshire (or on the ground, as the case may be).
Here’s a few pointers of places to enjoy bird watching in Yorkshire:
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RSPB Bempton Cliffs
Bempton Cliffs is at the heart of the UK’s largest seabird colony. Nearly half a million seabirds can be found swooping, soaring and screeching around towering chalk cliffs on the spectacular Yorkshire coast in East Riding. Between March and October gannets, guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, herring gulls, fulmars and shags make their home here and, between April-July, the infamous puffins join them, it’s a real spring treat when they arrive.
Wakefield Peregrines
Follow the lives of the peregrine falcons that have taken home at Wakefield Cathedral, their nest inspired quite the online following, even a webcam. In April, you should find the female incubating eggs whilst the male delivers food.
Cowbar Nab
Spring is a wonderful time to visit a sea colony, and Cowbar Nab in staithes is a great choice to spot the many birds that visit to breed at this time of year. Look out for herring gulls, kittiwakes, fulmars, razorbills and house martins.
YWT Potteric Carr Nature Reserve
Perch at one of the hides dotted about the reserve to go birdwatching, as many as 230 bird species have been recorded over the years. Potteric Carr attracts a huge number of wetland birds including bitterns, and is especially exciting during spring when migrating birds pass through. Enjoy the stunning vistas, with large reedbeds seemingly stretching for miles.
For more inspiration see Wildlife Habitats and Reserves.