County birdwatching · England

Birdwatching in East Riding of Yorkshire

By Does Your Duck Quack · Planning updated 27 October 2026

The East Riding’s main choices span seabird cliffs, tidal reedbeds and the narrow land at the Humber’s mouth. Bempton and Flamborough provide the headland setting, with Gannet, Kittiwake, Guillemot and Razorbill prominent at Bempton and fewer Puffins among them. Bempton’s named routes offer different lengths: Jubilee Corner is 2.2 kilometres, Staple Newk two kilometres and the Nature Trail one kilometre. Their published walking estimates leave room for visitors to choose how much of the cliff-top visit to attempt. Blacktoft Sands changes the focus to lagoons and tidal reeds. Its described birds include Marsh Harrier, Bittern and Bearded Tit, with breeding Avocet and seasonal gatherings of waders. Spurn is a separate peninsula visit near Kilnsea, where dunes, scrub and wetlands lie between estuary and open sea. The existing seasonal account includes spring Wheatear and Whimbrel, autumn Whinchat and Yellow-browed Warbler, and winter Brent Goose and Snow Bunting. North Cave Wetlands supplies an inland alternative with pools, islands and hides; some paths have breeding-season restrictions. North Cliffe Wood offers a woodland circuit instead, with winter Marsh Tit and Nuthatch named by the Trust and wet, rooted grass paths underfoot.

When weather makes a headland visit appealing, use Spurn’s migration and public-route guide to compare the peninsula’s permitted routes and seasonal birds.

For a headland day with several kinds of watching, read Flamborough’s seabird cliffs and migration guide before choosing between the public viewpoints.

Birding near a town or postcode →

Social preview photograph: White chalk cliffs and a fenced grassland path above the sea at Bempton. Steve Buttle; resized and converted to WebP · CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized and converted for the preview.