Over the next couple of weeks the ever polpular puffins will start to leave the cliffs at RSPB Bempton and also at colonies around the Flamborough Headland.
Usually by mid-August most of the much-loved seabirds will have set off to their winter destinations – either to the Bay of Biscay or areas of the North Sea. They have also been tracked to Icelandic waters.
The first puffin of 2023 was spotted at Bempton Cliffs on 22 February, and it was shortly followed by thousands more who pair up for the breeding season on the cliffs.
Over the last few weeks many of the young puffins chicks (known as Pufflings) have fledged and have started gathering on the water as they get ready to leave.
Puffins lay just one egg that is incubated in turn by each adult for around six weeks. After the egg hatches, the chick remains in the burrow on the cliff face and awaits food from its parents.
Once they have left they won’t be seen in the area again until next Spring.
Thanks to Flamborough photographer Chrys Mellor who has supplied the Echo with these stunning images.
