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The UK Bird Atlas

Knot (Calidris canutus)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks August to September · Sandpipers and Allies · BOU category AF

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

Knot (Calidris canutus)
Arnstein Rønning, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Knot: 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.

Knot has been recorded in 785 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (26%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in August to September.

Conservation status: Near Threatened (IUCN Red List, NT)
View on the IUCN Red List
Relative to this species' best squares (how classes are calculated)
Very high
18% or more of visits
High
6% to 18%
Moderate
2% to 6%
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 46%2%Very high
February 37%2%Very high
March 28%1%Low
April 22%1%Low
May 24%1%Low
June 18%<1%Low
July 44%2%Low
August 87%4%Very high
September 100%5%High
October 66%3%Moderate
November 51%2%High
December 37%2%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in August

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HP50Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU27Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU32Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU36Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU37Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU47Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HY22Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
NB45Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NB91Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NC14Highland, 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.