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The UK Bird Atlas

Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos)Where and when to see it in the UK

Passage migrant · reporting peaks May · Chats, Old World Flycatchers, and Allies · BOU category A

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

Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos)
james_birdtourasia, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Nightingale: 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.

Nightingale has been recorded in 450 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (15%) in records to 2026. Passage migrant in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. 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
53% or more of visits
High
7% to 53%
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 0%<1%Very high
February 0%<1%Very high
March 0%<1%Very high
April 70%2%Low
May 100%2%High
June 28%<1%Moderate
July 6%<1%Low
August 5%<1%Low
September 1%<1%Low
October 1%<1%Low
November 0%<1%Low
December 0%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in May

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HP61Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
NZ42Stockton-on-Tees, England100%Very high
SE50Doncaster, England100%Very high
SJ18Flintshire, Wales100%Very high
SO61Gloucestershire, England100%Very high
SO94Worcestershire, England100%Very high
SP01Gloucestershire, England100%Very high
SP24Warwickshire, England100%Very high
SP61Buckinghamshire, England100%Very high
SP70Buckinghamshire, 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.