Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
*Many thanks to Jeff and his brother Chris Wardlow for this interview!*
My good Youtube friend Chris who lives over in Bempton Bridlington east Yorkshire, sent me this wonderful video interview he made of his brother Jeff who is 73 now.
In the interview Jeff tells of his boyhood climmer days,
( cliff egg collector ), at Bempton cliffs, in the 1940s and 50s.
Back then climming, or (cliff climbing), used to be an important part of Flamborough/Bempton, village life. It involved gangs of men lowering one of their team on ropes down the vertical chalk cliffs to collect birds’ eggs and then hauling the climmer back up again.
Cliff egg collecting, or 'climming' to provide for the family or to sell to local shops, was a common but dangerous practice, right around our UK cliff coastlines.
This was no fun, adventure hobby, pastime. Climming was a serious business. It was a dangerous work, made necessary to help poor families survive where money for food was always scarce. Cliff collected eggs, were regarded as a precious natural bounty to be harvested. If sold it was a useful addition to the farm income.If kept the eggs were a very welcome addition to the local diet.
Chris tells us, 'In modern times of plenty, climming has been ridiculed, criticised and finally banned. However many of us living here now well remember those long gone hard times when egg collecting put a meal on the table and filled empty stomachs. It created a cottage industry that shielded folk from hunger as well as doing the seabirds a favour by controlling there numbers and therefore preventing mass seabird deaths and diseases like we have today.'
These are local descriptions of various parts and bits of equipment used in Climming.
*The ropes used to go down were made of Manila and they had an inner core added for strength. This core was locally called Gark.
*A Barfin was the local description of the belt worn by the anchor man for support.
*The pulley that stuck into the ground and helped to keep the rope away from the cliff face (two were used on a climb) was known locally as a Ginney.
*The body harness used was probably made from horse harness and they were made by a Bridlington Cobblers called Coopers.
*The Ginneys were more than likely made by Morleys the village Blacksmiths.
Climmers sought after,-
Kittiwake,
Guillemot,
Fulmar,
Razorbill,
and the odd Puffin eggs
Climmers observed the following rules of conduct.
*Herring Gull Eggs were destroyed they were predators that wantonly destroyed the nests and eggs of other cliff dwelling birds, especially Puffins.
*Climmers did not take eggs if they were at the hatching stage.
Climmers would only take the first clutch of eggs laid and leave the second to hatch. Once eggs were lifted from a nest site those nests would be left untouched by climmers for two seasons.
*The egg Climming Season started from mid May and finished at the end of June.
*Many thanks to Jeff and his brother Chris Wardlow for this interview!*
My good Youtube friend Chris who lives over in Bempton Bridlington east Yorkshire, sent me this wonderful video interview he made of his brother Jeff who is 73 now.
In the interview Jeff tells of his boyhood climmer days,
( cliff egg collector ), at Bempton cliffs, in the 1940s and 50s.
Back then climming, or (cliff climbing), used to be an important part of Flamborough/Bempton, village life. It involved gangs of men lowering one of their team on ropes down the vertical chalk cliffs to collect birds’ eggs and then hauling the climmer back up again.
Cliff egg collecting, or 'climming' to provide for the family or to sell to local shops, was a common but dangerous practice, right around our UK cliff coastlines.
This was no fun, adventure hobby, pastime. Climming was a serious business. It was a dangerous work, made necessary to help poor families survive where money for food was always scarce. Cliff collected eggs, were regarded as a precious natural bounty to be harvested. If sold it was a useful addition to the farm income.If kept the eggs were a very welcome addition to the local diet.
Chris tells us, 'In modern times of plenty, climming has been ridiculed, criticised and finally banned. However many of us living here now well remember those long gone hard times when egg collecting put a meal on the table and filled empty stomachs. It created a cottage industry that shielded folk from hunger as well as doing the seabirds a favour by controlling there numbers and therefore preventing mass seabird deaths and diseases like we have today.'
These are local descriptions of various parts and bits of equipment used in Climming.
*The ropes used to go down were made of Manila and they had an inner core added for strength. This core was locally called Gark.
*A Barfin was the local description of the belt worn by the anchor man for support.
*The pulley that stuck into the ground and helped to keep the rope away from the cliff face (two were used on a climb) was known locally as a Ginney.
*The body harness used was probably made from horse harness and they were made by a Bridlington Cobblers called Coopers.
*The Ginneys were more than likely made by Morleys the village Blacksmiths.
Climmers sought after,-
Kittiwake,
Guillemot,
Fulmar,
Razorbill,
and the odd Puffin eggs
Climmers observed the following rules of conduct.
*Herring Gull Eggs were destroyed they were predators that wantonly destroyed the nests and eggs of other cliff dwelling birds, especially Puffins.
*Climmers did not take eggs if they were at the hatching stage.
Climmers would only take the first clutch of eggs laid and leave the second to hatch. Once eggs were lifted from a nest site those nests would be left untouched by climmers for two seasons.
*The egg Climming Season started from mid May and finished at the end of June.
