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The UK Bird Atlas

Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius)Where and when to see it in the UK

Passage migrant · reporting peaks October · Sandpipers and Allies · BOU category AF

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

Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius)
Mike Baird from Morro Bay, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Grey Phalarope: 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.

Grey Phalarope has been recorded in 321 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (11%) in records to 2026. Passage migrant in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in October.

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
3% to 100%
Moderate
<1% to 3%
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 7%<1%Very high
February 4%<1%High
March 1%<1%Very high
April 6%<1%Low
May 0%<1%Very high
June 0%<1%Very high
July 0%<1%Very high
August 26%<1%High
September 77%<1%Very high
October 100%<1%Low
November 45%<1%Very high
December 18%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in October

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HP61Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HZ27Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
NK06Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NO51Fife, Scotland100%Very high
NO65Angus, Scotland100%Very high
NO87Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NY06Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland100%Very high
NZ53Hartlepool, England100%Very high
SD34Lancashire, England100%Very high
SD46Lancashire, 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.