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

• 
  Seabird Festival 2026
  The weekend of the 27th and 28th of June. We will be marvelling at the immense assemblages of local breeding seabirds off the end of the headland as the breeding season is in full swing. The seawatch observatory will be open from 10am-4pm both days with expert seabird guides plus…
• 
  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

• 
  14th May 2026
  A cool, showery day with a moderate northerly wind and maximum of 12 degrees C. The day’s highlight was the discovery of a Stone Curlew in a field near Highcliffe Manor, South Landing. Present from mid-morning, it unfortunately flew west mid-afternoon and wasn’t relocated. Other sightings included an Arctic Skua,…
• 
  13th May 2026
  The day started with a light westerly wind but ended with moderate northerlies; there were sunshine and showers with a high of ten degrees C. Thornwick Pools hosted a pair of Shelduck, two Gadwall and the long-staying drake Pintail. Similarly reluctant to move on, the male Black Redstart continued in…
• 
  12th May 2026
  Cloudy with light showers, a moderate south-westerly with the temperature reaching 12°C. Seawatching highlights comprised a Manx Shearwater and three Whimbrels. A Ring Ouzel and a Black Redstart were both in the Pigeonhole area and five Whimbrel were noted at South Landing. A Hobby zipped over Thornwick Bay. A Red…
• 
  11th May 2026
  Scattered clouds were driven on a blustery northerly with the temperature not rising above a predictably cool 10°C. A Bonxie and two Goosander passed the Fog Station and the male Black Redstart remained there. Thornwick Pools still held two Little Ringed Plovers, a Pintail and two Gadwall while a Mealy…

Daily Birding Highlights

The Ringing Diary

• 
  2025 Ringing Round-up
  2025 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 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…
• 
  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…
• 
  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…

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