Flamborough Head Wildlife Sanctuary lies roughly 40 Miles below Whitby on the north east coast of England.

Unlike the over commercialised Bempton Cliffs up the road, Flamborough maintains that beautiful, wild and unspoilt theme. There’s no glossy signs about giving nature a home here, and no fluffy puffins at £15 a go. Theres a lot more wild puffins on the cliffs too, and because of the lower cliffs and grassy banks here its easier to see Puffins at close range.

On our last visit about 3 weeks ago we were lucky enough to locate a pair of Peregrines nesting on the cliff face. Judging by what we are seeing from the Cathedral CCTV channels of many cities involved in the peregrine watch programs, many of the peregrines now have young families. With this in mind we headed to Flamborough Head to see how things were progressing with the peregrines there.

Keeping a safe distance from the nest site, so we don’t distress the birds, we watched from the cliff tops. On arrival we could see a Peregrine off to our right hand side. It had just made a kill and the blood and feathers were on clear display. I do wonder if it was just feeding itself or if there were young in the nest it had been feeding too.

We sat for a while, the Peregrine flew back and forth from perch to perch and on occasion went and sat near its nest. The Peregrine seemed completely at ease with our presence, and although at times it was clear it knew we were there, it made no calls of distress and often sat pruning itself in full view of ourselves and any passing walkers.

Im guessing by the appearance and colouring of the bird that it was the female. A lot darker bird than the male we saw last time we were here, and a lot shabbier in appearance, so much so that I have nicknamed her “Scruff”. I think we may return in another couple of weeks, hopefully we may catch a glimpse of the babies by that time.

Beautiful Flamborough Head. Unspoilt By Man.

Beautiful Flamborough Head. Unspoilt By Man. Take the walk from North Landing upto the lighthouse. You wont be disappointed.

"Scruff" - The Flamborough Head Peregrine Falcon

“Scruff” – The Flamborough Head Peregrine Falcon

Nesting in the middle of a Kittiwake Colony its hardly surprising what The Peregrines have for breakfast

Nesting in the middle of a Kittiwake Colony its hardly surprising what The Peregrines have for breakfast

Flamborough Head Puffins. Easier to spot than those at Bempton

Flamborough Head Puffins. Easier to spot than those at Bempton

Flamborough Head Puffins. Easier to spot than those at Bempton

Flamborough Head Puffins. Easier to spot than those at Bempton

Flamborough Head Puffins. Easier to spot than those at Bempton

Flamborough Head Puffins. Easier to spot than those at Bempton