A shore thing!

Poppy Rummery, RSPB visitor experience officer, at Bempton Cliffs nature reserve

- By DEBORAH HALL

A NEW marine conservation project has launched in East Yorkshire as the site becomes the first official “Shorewatch’ location in England.

The new initiative is a partnership between the RSPB and Shorewatch founders, Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), the leading charity dedicated to the protection of whales and dolphins. It will see 28 trained volunteers carry out structured “watches” for minke whales, dolphins, grey and harbour seals from the RSPB's nature reserve at Bempton Cliffs, north of Bridlington, as part of a national effort to monitor these marine mammals.

While seabirds have long been the stars of Bempton Cliffs with over half a million nesting here each year Shorewatch focuses on what lies beyond the cliffs. Cetacean sightings in the North Sea and the data gathered will help conservationists understand more about the species that live in and pass through these waters.

This week, a cohort of 28 Yorkshire volunteers have reached their first milestone of 100 ten-minute “watches” made across 51 different days since late February. At least one out of three species (bottlenose dolphins, porpoise or grey seal) were spotted on 33 different days out of 80 days between February 25 and May 15.