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The UK Bird Atlas

Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks May · Stilts and Avocets · BOU category AEF

Records to 2026-08-16 · build 2026-08-31

Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)
El Golli Mohamed, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Avocet: relative reporting rate by 10 km square, September

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (grid squares, place names from OS Open Names). Northern Ireland place names: OSNI Open Data, OGL v3.0. County and country boundaries: Office for National Statistics, Open Government Licence v3.0. Coastline: Natural Earth. Bird records from the data partners listed here.

Avocet has been recorded in 626 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (21%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Wales and Scotland. Reporting peaks in May.

Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN Red List, LC)
View on the IUCN Red List
Relative to this species' best squares (how classes are calculated)
Very high
47% or more of visits
High
12% to 47%
Moderate
2% to 12%
Low
under 2%
Surveyed, not recorded
at least 20 qualifying visits, no record
Insufficient records
too few visits to say
Lighter fill
Few visits, lower confidence
Small dot
Occasional: a single record, or out of season

Seasonality

Reporting rate by month, relative to the peak month
MonthRelative to peakShare of visitsTypical class
January 38%3%High
February 41%3%Low
March 63%5%Low
April 83%7%Very high
May 100%8%Very high
June 80%6%High
July 83%7%Moderate
August 71%6%Moderate
September 55%4%Moderate
October 40%3%Low
November 34%3%High
December 34%3%Low

Squares with the highest reporting rate in May

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
J54Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland100%Very high
NF73Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NK02Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NU01Northumberland, England100%Very high
NY96Northumberland, England100%Very high
NZ53Hartlepool, England100%Very high
SD34Lancashire, England100%Very high
SD40Lancashire, England100%Very high
SD46Lancashire, England100%Very high
SD48Westmorland and Furness, England100%Very high

Spotted an error in a square? Report it and it goes into the review queue. Read the methodology for how classes, flags and sensitive-species rules work. Data to 2026.