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The UK Bird Atlas

Bee-eater (Merops apiaster)Where and when to see it in the UK

Status not yet classified · reporting peaks August · Bee-eaters · BOU category A

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

Bee-eater (Merops apiaster)
Петро Катеринич, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Bee-eater: 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.

Bee-eater has been recorded in 64 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (2%) in records to 2026. Its strongest squares are in England, Wales and Scotland. Reporting peaks in August.

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
100% or more of visits
High
4% to 100%
Moderate
<1% to 4%
Low
under <1%
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 0%<1%Insufficient records
February 0%<1%Insufficient records
March 0%<1%Insufficient records
April 8%<1%Very high
May 0%<1%Very high
June 0%<1%Very high
July 2%<1%Very high
August 100%<1%Very high
September 46%<1%Very high
October 10%<1%Very high
November 2%<1%Very high
December 0%<1%Insufficient records

Squares with the highest reporting rate in August

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HY75Sea, off Orkney Islands100%Very high
SJ27Flintshire, Wales100%Very high
SV91Isles of Scilly, England100%Very high
SW33Cornwall, England100%Very high
SZ48Isle of Wight, England100%Very high
TG33Norfolk, England100%Very high
TR35Kent, England100%Very high
TG23Norfolk, England33%High
NY55Cumberland, England13%High
SZ57Isle of Wight, England4%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.