Watch the Birdie!

Every Picture Tells a Story - or makes a connection...

Parent and Child on Bempton Cliffs, near Flamborough Head

An annual visit to Bempton Cliffs is a must for bird lovers. Because of the ability to walk on top of the cliffs, you can be so close to these magnificent birds. The sight of adults swooping in to bring food to their chicks is a sight to see when they come in at eye-level and alight on their ledges. The dedication of the parents to fly and dive for fish all day long is admirable and the actual streamlined dive into the sea is something else.

Another favourite place for me is Farad Head, near Durness, in the top left hand corner of Scotland. Apart from the fact that that is where you can find the most amazing hot chocolate at Cocoa Mountain, it is also a spot where you can get nearer to puffins than anywhere else I know. Climb over a rise in a high field and you suddenly come to a slope you can sit on and watch puffins nesting happily on a large rock just offshore. If you are lucky, one of these 'clowns' of the sea bird fraternity may land on your slope, but at a safe distance, That's what this one did!

And here's a hot chocolate like no other. Made in a chocolate manufacturer's café in an old MOD complex inhabited by craft and art personnel miles from anywhere. Worth the extra miles.