Under the Waves

About the location

FILEY

Scarborough 7.7 miles; Bridlington 10.5 miles.

Filey is a traditional English seaside resort with a friendly atmosphere, offering a restful holiday, making an ideal place to stay for walkers and wildlife watchers at any time of the year. A real gem on the Yorkshire coast. A fishing town on the North East Coast, Filey has enjoyed a reputation of being a resort since Victorian times, set beside the magnificent Filey Bay, a long stretch of beautiful sand, with Filey Brigg and its shallow rockpools to the north. Filey Brigg is a low headland that protects Filey Bay and provides good bird watching and seawatching opportunities all year round. The 400 ft high Bempton Cliffs (RSPB Reserve) to the south of Filey Bay are home to over 250,000 seabirds in the summer. Gannets, kittiwakes, puffins, guillimots and razorbills all nest there. Gannets are regularly seen diving for fish in Filey Bay. The Brigg area is an ideal place to watch for common and rarer waders, seabirds and migrating warblers,finches and thrushes. As well as seabirds, seals and other marine life, such as porpoises dolphins and minke whales can be seen in the sea around the Brigg. The town itself seems almost caught in a time warp, retaining much of its character with individual shops, narrow paths and ginnels. There is a small coble landing, a slipway where local fishermen keep their boats, plus delightful beach chalets that can be hired through the summer months. The bay is edged with two promenades and there are various gardens, where brass bands play on a Sunday afternoon. This small town is family orientated, crazy golf and candy floss. Also in Filey there is the Filey Dams Nature Reserve, a wetland reserve where common and rare waders and wildfowl can be seen as well as autumn gatherings of swallows, sand martins and house martins. Also there is Parish Wood (just off Sycamore Avenue) an unexpected gem that offers a wealth of wildlife. Willow warbler, chiffchaff, blackcap and tree sparrows breed there and a wide variety of other species are regularly seen such as great spotted woodpeckers and sparrow hawks. Parish Wood also provides shelter and food for a wide range of migrant bird species such as goldcrests, pied and spotted flycatchers, warblers, finches, thrushes and woodcocks. A short drive brings you to the busier town of Scarborough where for family fun you can visit the Alpamare Waterpark, a waterpark unlike anything the UK has ever seen before, as well as plenty to explore and discover in this lovely area.

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