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.
Latest Sightings
- 2nd May 2026
Winds were light and varied in direction, sunny during the morning with increasing cloud during the afternoon and the temperature rose to 20°C. Seawatching highlights involved a Manx Shearwater, two Little Egrets and two Golden Plovers. The first Hobby of the years was over Thornwick Pools while a Red Kite… - 1st May 2026
The wind changed to a southerly direction, the clear skies remained and the temperature responded by reaching a summery 25°C by late afternoon. Many more hirundines were seen around the Outer Head including two Red-rumped Swallows at the Lighthouse Car Park mid-afternoon although they flew off after a few minutes… - 30th April 2026Sunny skies throughout, with a light/moderate easterly wind and high of 14 degrees C. Thornwick Pools attracted three Gadwall and a Marsh Harrier overflew the Lighthouse Grassland. Two Swifts were over the village, with another over Cliff Lane, Bempton. Passerine migrants on the outer head included one Grasshopper Warbler, a…
- 29th April 2026Sunny throughout, with a moderate north-easterly wind and a high of 13 degrees C. A Bonxie flew north during a seawatch that also featured four Sandwich Terns and two Red-throated Divers. Three Swifts, a Cuckoo and two reeling Grasshopper Warblers were all new for the year. Additional sightings included the…
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.