Thousands of dolphins spotted off Yorkshire coast in just over a year
The east coast is earning a reputation among nature watchers.
From the birds at Bempton Cliffs to the whales and dolphins in the North Sea, the coast it is held in high regard.
Now RSPB Bempton Cliffs has recorded its 1,000th marine mammal watch, just 16 months after becoming the first official Shorewatch location in England.
Shorewatch is a citizen science programme run by Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), the leading global charity dedicated to the conservation of whales and dolphins.
A new partnership between RSPB Bempton Cliffs and WDC was launched in March 2025 and has since seen a dedicated team of 20 trained volunteers carry out regular surveys from the reserve's dramatic clifftop viewpoints.
Since launching volunteers have completed an impressive 1,000 ten-minute ‘watches’, and recorded a total of 505 marine mammal ‘sightings’ comprising 2,384 individuals (one ‘sighting’ might include more than one individual, for example a pod of 12 dolphins).
In total there were 2,221 adult mammals seen and 163 young.
These records include sightings made during Shorewatch ten minute surveys as well as additional sightings reported outside of formal watch periods by trained volunteers.
Species recorded included bottlenose dolphin – 1,896 individuals observed; harbour porpoise – 341; minke whales – 50; grey seals – 96; and humpback whale – one.
While Bempton Cliffs is best known for its Gannets, Puffins, Kittiwakes, Guillemots and Razorbills, the Shorewatch project focuses attention on the rich marine environment beyond the cliffs and the species that depend upon healthy seas.
Susanna O’Neill, RSPB Senior Administrator and a Shorewatch volunteer, brought the idea of making Bempton a Shorewatch location back with her after completing an RSPB sabbatical spent in Shetland where she worked with the WDC team and took part in watches herself.
She said: "Reaching 1,000 watches is an incredible achievement and a testament to the dedication of our volunteers. The number of bottle nosed dolphins we’ve seen has been staggering.
“It has been somewhat of a surprise but just goes to show what more eyes on the sea can reveal.
"This project has introduced thousands of visitors to the marine wildlife on East Yorkshire’s coast and to see how close the dolphins come to the cliffs has been amazing.”
The Shorewatch programme was established by WDC in Scotland in 2005 and has generated one of the UK's most valuable citizen science datasets for cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises). Bempton Cliffs became the first site in England to join the network, extending monitoring efforts further south along the UK coastline.
All Shorewatch surveys follow a standardised methodology, allowing observations from different locations and years to be compared. Sightings are logged using a dedicated app and contribute to national research and conservation planning.