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The UK Bird Atlas

Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta)Where and when to see it in the UK

Summer visitor · reporting peaks May to June · Partridges, Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies · BOU category AF

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

Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta)
Jan Frode Haugseth, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Ptarmigan: 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.

Ptarmigan has been recorded in 179 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (6%) in records to 2026. Summer visitor in the UK. Its strongest squares are in Scotland and England. Reporting peaks in May to June.

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
21% to 100%
Moderate
5% to 21%
Low
under 5%
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 18%<1%Very high
February 7%<1%Very high
March 27%<1%Very high
April 79%<1%Very high
May 100%<1%Very high
June 98%<1%Low
July 77%<1%Very high
August 45%<1%Very high
September 24%<1%Low
October 18%<1%Very high
November 24%<1%Low
December 5%<1%Low

Squares with the highest reporting rate in May

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
NC33Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NC34Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NC52Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NC53Highland, Scotland100%Very high
ND02Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NG95Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NH00Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NH14Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NH17Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NH28Highland, 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.