Flamborough Headland, situated on the North Sea coast of East Yorkshire, is renowned for having the largest mainland seabird colony in Britain and a reputation for the best seawatching on the British east coast. Not least, the area is a fantastic place to witness bird migration and see small birds such as thrushes, chats and warblers making landfall after crossing the North Sea. It also has an impeccable pedigree in attracting scarcities from continental Europe and many rarities from farther east.

Events

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  The Rarity Garden
  Join us for a very special afternoon at The Living Seas Centre, South Sea Road, Flamborough, Sunday, 15 February 2026, 2pm – 5pm. Refreshments will be available after the talk. **** FULLY BOOKED **** Free Entry • Seats are limited, booking is essential. To book, please email: events@flamboroughbirdobs.org.uk Start the…
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  Event Dates for 2026
  Flamborough Seabird Festival 2026 The Flamborough Seabird Festival 2026 will take place over the weekend of Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th June. The programme will include a series of walks principally focused on Flamborough’s seabirds when the colonies are at their busiest. Migweek 2026 Migweek 2026 will take place Saturday…

Latest Sightings

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  14th January 2026
  A bright day with thin high cloud. After a frosty morning the temperature struggled to reach 4°C by mid-afternoon in a light south-westerly. A flock of eight Russian White-fronted Geese at Michlemires were new arrivals while 31 Pink-feet toured the Outer Head. Two Woodcocks and a Short-eared Owl remained at…
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  13th January 2026
  A dull, overcast day until cloud started to clear late afternoon. The temperature reached 8°C and the wind was a moderate south-westerly. Eleven Pink-footed Geese were feeding east of South Landing where a Bar-tailed Godwit and a Grey Wagtail were at the beach. Six Woodcocks were encountered around the Outer…
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  12th January 2026
  A marked change of weather – bright, with moderate south-west winds and a high of ten degrees C. Wildfowl interest on the seawatch included six Pochard and three Tufted Duck flying south with a single Velvet Scoter moving in the opposite direction. Unusual in mid-winter, five Dunlin included four birds…
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  11th January 2025
  Overcast throughout, with light sleety rain in the morning followed by heavier rain during the afternoon; strong south-east winds developed and temperatures rose to five degrees C. The Tundra Bean Goose remained with the Pink-footed Geese flock which returned to feed on outer head fields. Otherwise the weather was responsible…

Daily Birding Highlights

The Ringing Diary

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  Migweek 2025
  Every year FBO runs its Migweek event, offering daily guided walks, daily ringing demonstrations, talks and a migration station providing info, merchandise and chat. The event continues to grow in popularity with this year being the best ever with a big increase in visitor numbers. The team ran eleven ringing…
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  September 2025
  This month saw the final preparations for Migweek, with the clearing of rides at South Landing being completed. Twenty seven sessions were run across the headland including three at RSPB Bempton. Towards the end of the month we welcomed Dr. Joe Wynn from Liverpool University who is researching where trans-siberian…
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  August 2025
  What an amazing month for our ringing team! Thirty-one sessions were held at eight different sites which yielded a fabulous 1301 birds of which 1163 were newly ringed and 137 were re-traps, with two UK controls and one foreign control. Our team ran two public demonstrations on 16th & 17th…
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  July 2025
  The calm weather of July gave our team more opportunities to hold ringing sessions this month, with 33 run at 7 sites, including Thornwick roost, CES at Thornwick, South Landing and our usual garden sites. A total of 596 birds were caught with 551 of these newly ringed plus 45…

Click on the button below for full details of all posts about ringing. The posts are ordered with the latest first.