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The UK Bird Atlas

Quail (Coturnix coturnix)Where and when to see it in the UK

Summer visitor · reporting peaks June · Partridges, Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies · BOU category AE*F

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

Quail (Coturnix coturnix)
christoph_moning, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Quail: 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.

Quail has been recorded in 689 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (23%) in records to 2026. Summer visitor in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in 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
20% to 100%
Moderate
2% to 20%
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 1%<1%Very high
March 0%<1%Very high
April 2%<1%Very high
May 34%<1%Very high
June 100%<1%Very high
July 71%<1%Very high
August 29%<1%Very high
September 3%<1%Very high
October 1%<1%Very high
November 0%<1%Very high
December 1%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in June

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HU41Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU43Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU44Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU46Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
NH92Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NJ05Moray, Scotland100%Very high
NJ36Moray, Scotland100%Very high
NJ45Moray, Scotland100%Very high
NJ74Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NJ96Aberdeenshire, 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.