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The UK Bird Atlas

Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks February to March · Finches, Euphonias, and Allies · BOU category AF

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

Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra)
Andrey Gulivanov, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Crossbill: 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.

Crossbill has been recorded in 1,574 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (53%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in February to March.

Conservation status: Not Evaluated (IUCN Red List, NE)
View on the IUCN Red List
Relative to this species' best squares (how classes are calculated)
Very high
100% or more of visits
High
7% to 100%
Moderate
2% to 7%
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 73%<1%Very high
February 100%1%High
March 95%<1%Very high
April 69%<1%Very high
May 67%<1%Very high
June 81%<1%Very high
July 77%<1%Very high
August 55%<1%Very high
September 49%<1%Low
October 94%<1%Low
November 86%<1%High
December 62%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in February

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
D20Mid and East Antrim, Northern Ireland100%Very high
NB43Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NC60Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NC84Highland, Scotland100%Very high
ND26Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NH43Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NH44Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NH73Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NJ12Moray, Scotland100%Very high
NJ32Moray, Scotland100%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.