Flamborough Head
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Flamborough Head is a seven mile (≈11.3 km) long promontory on the Yorkshire coast of England, between the Filey and Bridlington bays of the North Sea. It is a chalk headland, and the resistance it offers to coastal erosion may be contrasted with the low coast of Holderness to the south.
Seabirds such as gannets and puffins breed abundantly on the cliffs, and nearby Bempton Cliffs has a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserve. Because it projects into the sea, Flamborough attracts many bird migrants in autumn, and also has a key point for observing passing seabirds. When the winds are 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. The 'Head also has a bird observatory.
A Franco-American squadron fought an engagement here with a pair of Royal Navy frigates in the American Revolutionary War in 1779. In the engagement, USS Bonhomme Richard and Pallas captured HMS Serapis and Countess of Scarborough, catapulting Capt. John Paul Jones' naval career. The toposcope at the lighthouse commemmorates the 180th anniversary of the battle.
Dane's Dyke is a 2 mile / 3 km long ditch that runs north and south isolating the seaward 5 square miles / 13 square kilometres of the headland. The dyke and the steep cliffs make the enclosed territory and its two boat launching beaches, North and South Landing, easily defended. Despite its name, bronze age arrowheads found on the site suggest an earlier history.
It was featured on the television programme Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of Yorkshire.
External links
- *[Map sources] for Flamborough Head
- [Flamborough bird observatory]
- [Danes Dyke]
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