Bempton Cliffs and Flamborough Head have been crowned as the winners of the birdwatching site of the year, according to a poll.

The sites in East Yorkshire see thousands of visitors arrive every summer to see puffins return alongside gannets, guillemots, kittiwakes, and – in the case of last year – a rare albatross.

Birdwatch magazine, which carried out the poll with its readers, described the coastal sites as a “worthy winner” due to “offering great sea-watching, spectacular visible migration” and it being the “adopted” home of the black-browed albatross, which spent weeks on the cliffs last year.

Bempton Cliffs site manager, Dave O’Hara, said: “This stunning stretch of the Yorkshire coastline attracts a broad range of seabirds and migrants and is extremely popular with the birding community.

Gannets nesting on the cliffs at Bempton, a popular site for birdwatchers to visit. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

“The fact that the birds come here in such numbers is, in part, due to the continued conservation work of organisations such as the RSPB.

“With the support of groups such as Flamborough Bird Observatory, we aim not just to win awards but to win the fight against the national decline in seabird numbers.”

Other winners named in the magazine’s annual Birders’ Choice Awards included television presenter and conservationist Chris Packham, who was named Conservation Hero of the Year.

Bempton Cliffs and Flamborough Head is the best place to go birdwatching in the country