Birds
Seabirds such as Northern Gannets and Atlantic Puffins breed abundantly on the cliffs, and nearby Bempton Cliffs has an RSPB reserve. The shooting of seabirds at Flamborough Head was condemned by Professor Alfred Newton in his 1868 speech to the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Local MP Christopher Sykes introduced the Sea Birds Preservation Act 1869, the first Act to protect wild birds in the United Kingdom.
Because it projects into the sea, Flamborough Head attracts many migrant birds in autumn, and also has a key point for observing passing seabirds. When the wind is in the east, many birders watch for seabirds from below the lighthouse, or later in the autumn comb the hedges and valleys for landbird migrants. Flamborough Head also has a bird observatory.
Read more about this topic: Flamborough Head
Famous quotes containing the word birds:
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O spring, singing spring, spring of the world renew!
In spring lovers consent and the birds marry
When the grove receives in her hair the nuptial dew.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God’s Heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.”
—Dorothy Frances Gurney (1858–1932)