Flamborough, Bridlington.
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Flamborough is a semi-rural village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire; it is situated approximately 4 miles (6.4 kilometres) north east of Bridlington town centre on the prominent coastal feature of Flamborough Head.

To the North is the North Landing and the the chalk cliffs, which stand at up to 400 feet (120 metres) high; to the South is the South Landing; to the East the lighthouses and to the West, Dane's Dyke, an ancient defensive earthwork stretching from one coast to the other.

The most prominent man made feature of the area is Flamborough lighthouse.

Flamborough is very popular as a holiday destination during the summer months; sights to see besides the lighthouse include the famous Bempton Cliffs Bird Reserve, the church of St Oswald, the fragmentary remains of Flamborough Castle, a medieval fortified manor house and the delightful Sewerby Hall.

The chalk cliffs at Bempton form part of England's largest seabird colony between Flamborough Head and Bempton; over 200,000 seabirds breed on the reserve alone; for much of the year, the cliffs at Bempton are relatively quiet.

However, during the breeding season, between April and August, they are crammed with birds; the spectacle, noise, activity and smell all contribute to an overwhelming and memorable experience; as many seabird colonies are on remote islands Bempton offers a rare opportunity to watch breeding seabirds at close quarters.

About 2,000 pairs of puffins return to the cliffs to breed and each pair lays a single egg in a crevice in the rock face; between May and the end of July they regularly visit their young with small fish but by August, the young puffins have left the cliffs to spend the winter on the North Sea.

The reserve also has the largest mainland gannet colony 'gannetry' in Britain; over 2,500 pairs nest on the cliffs and can be seen here from January to November, but are most active between April and August when they are breeding; they will travel up to 60 miles to find food.

Six other species of seabirds nest at Bempton Cliffs, of which Kittiwakes are the most numerous, with 45,000 pairs packed onto the cliffs; Guillemots and razorbills also nest on the narrow cliff ledges; and if your lucky you will see the distinctive gliding flight of fulmars around the cliffs; herring gulls and a few shags also nest on the cliffs.

The Egg Harvest - Cliff Climbing At Flamborough:

In the 19th century, men, known as climmers, collected eggs from the many bird nests found on Flamborough's chalk cliffs; the men used to gather at the top of the cliffs, carrying ropes, pickaxes and other implements; one man would sit on the ground holding a rope that has been tethered to a metal spike that has been driven into the ground; other men would stay nearby the cliff's edge waiting to help and take their turn at collecting eggs, whilst one of them would abseil down the cliff.

The one abseiling would kick himself off the dizzy heights of the cliff face with only a flimsy rope for abseiling and support; he would aim to land nearby a bird's nest somewhere on the cliff face; when he landed he would collects the eggs from any of the birds’ nests he could reach; he would then place the eggs in a sack which was hanging around his waist.

When he had gone far enough down the cliff he would pull himself back up the rope with the assistance of the others who were waiting at the cliff's edge; they would pull the rope, whilst sitting on the ground; the collected eggs would then be piled into a basket and then another man would abseil down the cliff to collect more eggs; this was repeated until they had collected several baskets of eggs.

A whole stretch of the East Yorkshire coast is known as the 'Dinosaur Coast', the 'Fossil Coast' or the 'Jurassic Coast'; this is a stretch of coastline around 35 miles long, which stretches right from Staithes in the north, to Flamborough and some of the fossils that have been found there are over 120 million years old.

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