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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  3rd February 2026
  A raw day; overcast with a strong easterly and the temperature not rising above 3°C. A Woodcock was sat on Lighthouse Road early morning and the pair of Gadwall remained at Thornwick Pools. A Great White Egret graced Buckton Pond and a Shelduck was at Bempton Cliffs RSPB briefly.
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  2nd February 2026
  There was little change in the weather pattern with a fresh easterly, a maximum temperature of 5°C and heavy cloud. A Great Northern Diver flew north past the Fog Station. A pair of Gadwall were at Thornwick Pools. Five Lapwing, five Woodcocks and 26 Fieldfares were elsewhere on the Outer…
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  1st February 2026
  A return to dull, overcast conditions with a light southerly and a maximum temperature of 7°C. Seawatching highlights included 27 Wigeon, a Little Gull, 164 Red-throated Divers and a single Great Northern while 8 Great Crested Grebes were offshore. Other birds logged on the Outer Head included two Tundra Bean…
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  31st January 2026
  A sunny day with a light to moderate southerly and a maximum temperature of 9°C. Four Barnacle Geese and a single Dark-bellied Brent were the most notable sightings on a seawatch. The Tufted Duck flock at Thornwick Lakes increased to 12. At Bempton Cliffs RSPB, two Short-eared Owls and Woodcock…

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.