Two weeks ago, I read that the Black-browed Albatross, which had spent most of last summer at Bempton Cliffs, was back again! Having previously written to a WP-listing friend suggesting that, if it returned this year, we should give it a try, it took me just 24 hours to convince him to join me and book our Eurostar and UK train tickets as well as the nearest possible accommodation to the cliffs, the lovely little secretcourtyard.co.uk in Bempton itself. Just a week later, i.e. last Friday, we finally made it to Bempton after a mammoth Brussels-York-Scarborough-Bempton train journey which took eight hours. Despite this, we headed to the lookout early on Saturday morning and were relieved to meet some birders on the way who confirmed the bird was around. Once there, it only took around 15 minutes before someone shouted "there he is" and I frantically started scanning low above the sea, only to realise it was up at eye-level right in front of me! For the next 45-minutes or so we enjoyed wonderful views of it flying around, floating on the updraughts, and occasionally settling in amongst the Gannets.
At 09h10, it flew off out to sea and was not seen again all weekend, despite us making another two visits to the cliffs over the two days we were there. We were extremely lucky, therefore, and both thrilled to have finally seen our first albatross so well at the wonderful Bempton Cliffs, the smells and sounds of which always make for a magical birding experience, albatross or not.
