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
- 3rd August 2026
A moderate easterly wind established during a largely sunny day with temperatures reaching 22 degrees C. Seawatch highlights included four Teal, 78 Common Scoters, 99 Oystercatchers, four Arctic Terns, 45 Common Terns, 534 Sandwich Terns, four Mediterranean Gulls, two juvenile Caspian Gulls, two juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls and an Arctic Skua.… - 2nd August 2026Sunny throughout with temperatures only reaching 20 degrees C as an onshore easterly established. Three juvenile Caspian Gulls, a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull and a juvenile Mediteranean Gull were recorded at Cattlemere, where single Dunlin, Knot and Whimbrel were also present. Other records along the South Cliffs included three Eider, a…
- 1st August 2026The month opened with sunny intervals, a light/moderate westerly wind and high of 23 degrees C. A record-breaking 25 Mediterranean Gulls (24 juvs, one second-summer) flew north, while larid interest was maintained with four Caspian Gulls (three juvs, one second-summer) and a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull. Three Quail called from fields…
- 31st July 2026Sunny intervals, light variable winds and a high of 21 degrees C. The Cattlemere rocks hosted five juvenile Caspian Gulls, a Little Egret, four Eider, two Dunlin and nine Whimbrel. Elsewhere, Thornwick Pools attracted single Snipe, Green Sandpiper and Dunlin. A Short-eared Owl toured the outer head where four Quail,…
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.