#gannet

Northern Gannet, Helgoland, Germany (2020) Caught in an intimate moment of self-care, a gannet preens beneath soft northern light.

Six of my favourite photos I took in June 2026 and month summary

The photos are of; Razorbill at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, Swallowtail and Four-spotted Chaser at NWT Hickling Broad, purple loosestrife at Lakeside Country Park, sun going down at home and view at Thornwick Bay.

I was inspired by bramble bushes bustling with Painted Ladies and allowing exhilarating glimpses of splendid Swallowtails in Norfolk which was a dream come true, I was invigorated by being immersed in a seabird spectacle with Gannets, Kittiwakes and more circling below Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire and at home in Hampshire ebullient pyramidal orchids and tufted vetch helped entrance me in summer’s natural wonders.

June was perhaps one of my greatest ever months of butterflies, within a strong run for seeing an array of dazzling species after the Swallowtail I went onto see Marbled White, Small Skipper, a nice few White Admirals, Silver-washed Fritillary, Ringlet, Purple Hairstreak, Essex Skipper, White-letter Hairstreak, Gatekeeper, Dark Green Fritillary and Purple Emperor for the first time this year. The circus of colour that epitomises summer was enhanced further by lots of Large Skippers, Adonis Blue, Small Blue, Holly Blue, Small Heath, Small Coppers, Meadow Browns, Green-veined White, Small White, Brimstone, Speckled Wood, Comma, Red Admiral, Peacock after it's win in Butterfly Conservation's favourite butterfly poll and Small Tortoiseshell. Lovely moths seen this month were White Ermine, Silver-ground Carpet, Hook-streaked Grass Veneer, Green Oak Tortrix, Sulphur Knapweed moth, Common Pug, Yellow Shell, Middle-barred Minor, Silver Y, Elephant and Poplar Hawk-moths, Cinnabar moths and Five-spot Burnet. Yellow-tail moth, Garden Tiger moth and Drinker moth caterpillars were a trio of pretty sights in Norfolk with Cinnabar moth caterpillars seen this month too.

There were some other epic and beautiful birds seen this month too with Puffin, Guillemot, Razorbill, Fulmar, Great Skua, Tree Sparrow, Linnet and Corn Bunting also enjoyed on the Yorkshire mini trip and Roseate Terns, Common Cranes including young, Spoonbill, Bittern, Hobby, Marsh Harrier, Osprey and Nightingale heard other stars of the Norfolk and Suffolk week. Cuckoo heard, Buzzard, Red Kite, Kestrel, Rook, Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Skylark, Whitethroat, Blackcap, House Martin, Swallow, Swift, wonderful White Storks at Knepp, Avocet and Redshank including young, Knot, Sanderling, Garganey and Common, Little and Sandwich Tern were other standout species across my June. Peregrine chicks in Winchester and lovely views of the growing Great Crested Grebe chicks and Canada and Greylag Goose goslings as well as Great Spotted Woodpecker and Kingfisher at Lakeside Country Park were good working day sightings.

It was a memorable mammal month with exciting Otter and Chinese Water Deer views alongside the many Muntjacs in Norfolk with a nice sighting of the latter at Bolderwood in the New Forest once home as well as Fallow Deer, Fallow including a fawn and Red Deer were also stars on the Knepp trip. Beautiful Brown Hare, Rabbit, interesting Grey Squirrel views and Grey Seal pup were other highlights. I also enjoyed seeing some dazzling dragonflies and damselflies this month including Norfolk Hawker, more top Four-spotted Chaser views this year, Broad-bodied Chaser, Emperor, Golden-ringed Dragonfly twice in a great year I’m having for them, Black-tailed Skimmer, Ruddy Darter, Beautiful and Banded Demoiselle, Common Blue Damselfly and a thrilling moment seeing a Blue-tailed Damselfly in our barrel pond in the garden for the first time. Green Tiger, Swollen-thighed, oedemera lurida, Seven-spotted Ladybird, Common Red and Silis ruficollis soldier beetles, Donacia clavipes and Black-and-yellow Longhorn beetles, Yellow-haired Sun fly, Marmalade and Long hoverfly and others, bees, Speckled Bush cricket a revelation of the month, Meadow Grasshopper, Turf Running-spider, Long-bodied Cellar spiders and Giant House spider were other varied highlights this month.

A brilliant brief trip to East Yorkshire to visit RSPB Bempton Cliffs and nearby Thornwick Bay 19th-21st June 2026

The photos from Saturday in this set are of; mating Five-spot Burnets at Thornwick Bay and Gannet and Razorbill, view, Red Admiral, Puffin and Gannet, Guillemots including bridled and Fulmar at Bempton Cliffs.

Realising we may miss out on seeing a Puffin this year we decided last month to have a long weekend to allow a day at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, which has coincidently been something we’ve done every two years since 2022. On Saturday it was an honour once more to have intimate encounters with seabirds, the birds that first captivated me. It was a pleasure to be surrounded by them, relaxing to just stand and focus on birds circling and packed onto cliffs and the sea below and just be mesmerised by the wealth of life around.

We were not disappointed when it came to Fratercula arctica (Atlantic Puffin) with cherished views of these sumptuous auks at Bempton and Thornwick. That’s six year lists of mine in a row that this one of my original favourite birds has featured on thanks to Yorkshire, Anglesey, Pembrokeshire for Skomer Island, Troup Head, Moray and Orkney trips over the past few years which is my longest run for that and I can’t get enough of them. Their cousins Guillemots were alluring sights once more with a bridled bird I enjoyed seeing with a white eye ring and line down it’s cheek, a colour morph that you find more of the further north you go. I was fixated by a Razorbill with wings outstretched shading it’s chick getting thrilling glimpse of this one of a few young birds seen, great to add seabirds to perhaps my best ever year of seeing and photographing young birds. I’d waited an unusually long time to see my first Fulmar of the year so I was pleased to see these albatross like elegant gliders between the two locations. With places we’ve been this year by chance I’d seen Kittiwakes on more occasions this year than any other of the six species I adore which is unusual and I was in my element watching and listening to these sharp and smart little gulls. Bempton is one of the best places in the country to see Gannets and it was a stupendous day of them getting astonishing still and in flight views of these charismatic ocean giants.

Herring Gulls a key part of the charm of the place. We were also ecstatic to spot a rare “bonxie”, a Great Skua which as documented by BBC Springwatch on Iolo Williams’ visit to Bempton in it’s final week of the series earlier this month had been hanging around. A special species to see which we had only first seen last year, on and on the way to Orkney, and it’s the fifth of last year’s pleasing list of new birds for me that we’ve gone on to see again this year after Great-tailed Grackle, Bluethroat, Woodcock and Wood Warbler,  I always love it when I can do that.

Another species we would not have seen this year without the trip as not one we see at home was Tree Sparrow and this smartly marked and chirpy bird was a delight to see especially around the visitor centre at Bempton, precious views of them. Other avian highlights included one I knew was at Bempton but had never seen there Corn Bunting seen and heard, Reed Bunting, Whitethroat, Linnet, House Martin, Swallow including young at the visitor centre, Skylark, Carrion Crow, Jackdaws and Kestrel with Yellowhammer seen and heard whilst travelling and Greenfinch heard nicely from the hotel we stayed at in Hull.

In the fine weather it was an insect fest too as a trio of dazzling butterflies; yet more Painted Ladies at Bempton in a big year for them, Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell shone. Large Skipper, Speckled Wood, Cinnabar moth, Five-spot Burnets, my first ever Middle-barred Minor and Silver-ground Carpet moths, bees, hoverfly, Broad-bodied Chaser dragonfly, Seven-spotted ladybirds and other beetles and flies and crane fly and Swollen-thighed beetle intriguing company in the hotel room were also good to see. An adorable Grey Seal pup was a nice sight at Thornwick Bay although it appeared stranded but okay as we had a fascinating conversation with two heroic marine mammal rescuers on site. They were two of many lovely people we met on the trip.

I felt so connected to the vast blue sea on the trip and it’s wonder and the rich meadows of Bempton were also a hub of life. Red campion, hogweed, common spotted and northern marsh orchids brought rich colour. I also liked taking in chamomile covering the cliffs, pineappleweed, lady’s bedstraw, creeping thistle, yarrow, hoary plantain, scurvygrass and bird’s-foot trefoil with daisy and self-heal on the lawn outside my room and great bindweed at the hotel.