70-year-old postcard found in attic recalls the egg hunters who abseiled down 300ft cliffs at Bempton

Viv Warne with his second wife, June Credit: RSPB

A 70-year-old postcard unearthed in an attic recalls the “climmers” who used to scale the 300ft cliffs at Bempton in search of eggs which once featured in a delicacy known as “seabird pie”.

The postcard, dated 1951, was sent by Ethel Goom, who lived in Bempton, to her daughter Marjorie, the mother of Viv Warne, from near Pocklington.

Viv found it when sorting out his late mother’s attic and presented it to the RSPB when he visited the reserve at Bempton recently to celebrate his birthday.

Mrs Goom wrote on the back: "You will be interested to see the photograph in the centre of the man on a rope collecting sea-birds' eggs. Of course they can only collect them for a few weeks in May."

Ethel Goom (on the right) with Viv Warne, holding his eldest son, Richard, next to his late wife, Sue Picture: RSPB

The centuries-old practice was banned just a few years later in 1954, following The Wild Birds Protection Act.

The climmer wore a leather harness and went down on a rope capable of taking his full weight with another rope he could use to stop him spinning and hitting the cliff face.

Guillemot and razorbill eggs were favoured because of their size and thick, hard shells, which were less likely to crack.

They were eaten locally and sent away to market and were also used in industry - the Sugar House in Hull, which closed around 1840, used them for refining sugar and they were also used in the manufacture of leather in Leeds. Early tourists were attracted in their droves, with some even attempting the perilous climb - they paid after being pulled safely back up.

RSPB Bempton Cliffs, near Bridlington, which is home to around half a million seabirds between March and October Picture: James Hardisty

It is thought by around the end of the 19th century 80,000 eggs were being collected. By the time it was banned, less than 10,000 eggs were harvested.

The abrupt ending of the practice spelt the demise of a much loved local dish known as seabird pie.

Viv recalls staying at his Nana's at Whitecote Cottage on Main Street, with his brother Howard during the school holidays - having cycled there all the way from York one summer.

He said: "Nana often took us to the cliffs to see the seabirds, which was quite a good walk. She was in her sixties then but was quite fit and was very proud that she could kick her own height!

"She was very knowledgeable about wildlife and told us the names of the birds and the wild flowers we would see on the way.

"She also told us that during severe storms she could hear from her cottage the crash of parts of the cliffs collapsing."

RSPB officer Maria Prchlik said they planned to frame the postcard and put in the wall when they redecorate the cafe area so everyone can see it.

She said: "It was wonderful to receive Viv’s postcard from the past. His Nanna sounds an amazing lady. It’s a joy for us to have played such an important part in his family’s history."