Well, that was a pleasant diversion.... an afternoon off, lunch with the old man down the road in Flamborough, a wander down Old Fall (Spot Flys, Dolphins, almost no humans), and a spontaneous right-turn as I passed the Bempton Cliffs turn-off on the way home.
Cold and breezy up at Staple Newk, with no sign of the albatross, which had drifted east on the sea a while earlier; it being erratic and unpredicatable of late, my hopes weren't overly high. With no pressing reason to be anywhere else, however, I stuck around for an hour or so - no joy, but more than content pointing the lens at the commoner locals - until, well, a jaw-droppingly perfect performance, which ended with several eye-level, who'll-blink-first, ultra-close fly-bys.
After many times enjoying this beautiful bird in recent years, shockingly this was my first visit to pay my respects of 2022, but somebody clearly didn't hold my laissez faire attitude against me.
