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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  19th February 2026
  The theme of overcast skies and a fresh easterly continues, the temperature reached 5°C. A Blue Fulmar and two Great Crested Grebes were the seawatching highlights. Outer Head sightings included a Woodcock, three Gadwall and four Shovelers. Two Short-eared Owls continued to hunt over grasslands at Bempton Cliffs RSPB and…
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  18th February 2026
  Mainly overcast in a fresh south-easterly. The maximum temperature was 5°C. An adult Little Gull was off the Fog Station during the morning. The flock of 60 White-fronted Geese flew to roost over Flamborough village at dusk again. Three Woodcock were also seen on the Outer Head. Eleven Snow Buntings…
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  17th February 2026
  A strong north-westerly brought broken cloud cover with occasional wintry sprinkles; the temperature peaked at 4°C. Ducks at Thornwick Pools included three Shoveler, three Gadwall and 80 Teal. Small numbers of thrushes were also present on the Outer Head with 9 Fieldfares and a Redwing.
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  16th February 2026
  A milder, bright day with variable cloud cover, a moderate south-westerly and a maximum temperature of 9°C. A Little Gull, 68 Red-throated Divers and six Eiders were the best of the seawatch. Five Great Crested Grebes were on the sea off Bridlington Links. Outer Head sightings included four White-fronted Geese,…

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.