Bird Watching at Headlands Restaurant on Flamborough Head

Bird Watching at Headlands Restaurant on Flamborough Head - Bird Watchers - Ornithologists - Seabirds - Bempton Cliffs RSPB Reserve

Headlands Restaurant is a popular destination for bird watchers. Ornithologists flock to our location to marvel at the incredible numbers and variety of seabirds, some of them rare,  that nest in the vertical chalk cliffs around the Flamborough headland.

Not far to the north of Headlands Restaurant is Bempton Cliffs which is the site of a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) reserve and visitor centre.

But we must not forget that Flamborough Head is famous, not only as a 'Special Area of Conservation' because of its variety of habitats and species, but also as a 'Site of Special Scientific Interest' that extends from Reighton Sands south to Sewerby around this huge chalk cliff headland.

This stretch of coastline is famous for its huge colonies of different nesting seabirds that total in the region of 200,000. This is one of the most important bird colony sites in Europe and includes one of only two British mainland gannet colonies.

There is a tremendous variety of seabirds to be found around the headland, including birds such as gannets, auks, kittiwakes, gulls, fulmars, herring gulls, razorbills, guillemots, shags and puffins. 

Inland, ornithologists can also watch different bird life. This includes birds such as meadow pipit and skylark on the grasslands; sedge warbler, reed warbler and reed bunting in the small areas of reeds; and yellowhammer and linnet in the rough gorse areas.

At South Landing is the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Living Seas Centre which is very interesting.