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
- 15th July 2026
Overcast until the evening when sunny intervals prevailed; there were light north-east winds and a high of 18 degrees C. Seawatch highlights included 15 Teal, 225 Common Scoters, five Arctic Terns, 196 Sandwich Terns, a Mediterranean Gull, three Arctic Skuas and 27 Manx Shearwaters that all flew north. A lone… - 14th July 2026A blustery northerly wind, relatively cloudy skies and a high of 17 degrees C. The undoubted highlight was the discovery of an immature Brown Booby at RSPB Bempton Cliffs. Photographed off Breil Nook late morning, it eventually flew off north-west. However, it then re-appeared briefly along the cliffs mid-afternoon before…
- 13th July 2026Variable cloud cover in a moderate to fresh north-easterly, the temperature reaching 19°C. Unexpected finds of the day were a drake Scaup off South Landing and a Black Redstart. Other sightings around the Outer Head include two Whimbrel, a Greenshank, two Grey Wagtails and a singing Quail. Eleven Manx Shearwaters,…
- 12th July 2026Sunny skies returned but the moderate north-easterly moderated the temperature which reached 20°C. Seawatching totals included 14 Common Scoter, ten Arctic Terns and 19 Manx Shearwaters. A White Wagtail at Thornwick Pools was a new migrant.
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.