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
- Migweek 2026
Saturday 10th – Sunday 18th October 2026 As usual, there will be a full programme of walks, talks, ringing demonstrations etc. The final programme will be developed over coming months and will be published here on the website from late summer. Migweek Partners
Latest Sightings
- 4th July 2026
Overcast for the majority of the day, with some sunny intervals, an increasingly blustery westerly wind and high of 24 degrees C. Seawatch highlights included a Bonxie, 40 Common Scoters, 50 Sandwich Terns and 18 Manx Shearwaters. The Thornwick area attracted a Shelduck, 23 Tufted Ducks, two Teal and a… - 3rd July 2026More cloud than of late, but temperatures still reached 24 degrees C during sunny intervals; initally light, a moderate westerly wind established in the afternoon. Nine Mediterranean Gulls flew north during a morning seawatch that also featured an Arctic Tern, a Blue Fulmar and 36 Manx Shearwaters. Four Eider were…
- 2nd July 2026Strong westerly winds featured throughout another sunny day, with temperatures reaching 23 degrees C. The winds were responsible for pushing birds onto the outer head including a juvenile Marsh Harrier, two Cuckoos and 340 Swifts that flew west past South Dykes. In addition, a Quail continued to call from fields…
- 1st July 2026Overcast skies book-ended a largely sunny day, with temperatures reaching 22 degrees in light, generally onshore, winds. The morning seawatch recorded 179 Common Scoters, four Curlew, 38 Sandwich Terns and 23 Manx Shearwaters. On the land, a minimum of two calling Quail were still in residence. However, the day’s most…
Daily Birding Highlights
Recent Birding Highlights
Click on the button below for full details of all birding highlights for the last 30 days. The posts are ordered with the latest first.
Birding Highlights Archive
Select the required month and highlights for every day will be presented for the chosen period. This archive goes back to 2014 and posts ordered with the earliest first.
The Ringing Diary
- 2025 Ringing Round-up2025 has been an excellent year for our ever-growing ringing team with new trainees joining us and two more ringers becoming licensed trainers. This year we completed 272 ringing sessions across ten different sites. We took part in six projects :- RAS-Re-trapping adults for survival, CES-Constant Effort site, NRS-Nest record…
- Migweek 2025Every 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…
- September 2025This 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…
- August 2025What 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…
Click on the button below for full details of all posts about ringing. The posts are ordered with the latest first.