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The UK Bird Atlas

Sand Martin (Riparia riparia)Where and when to see it in the UK

Summer visitor · reporting peaks April to May · Swallows · BOU category AF

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

Sand Martin (Riparia riparia)
Riparia_riparia_-Markinch,_Fife,_Scotland_-flying-8.jpg: Nigel Wedge from Fife, Scotland derivative work: Snowmanradio (talk), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Sand Martin: 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.

Sand Martin has been recorded in 2,363 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (80%) in records to 2026. Summer visitor in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in April to 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
25% or more of visits
High
12% to 25%
Moderate
5% to 12%
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 0%<1%Very high
February 0%<1%Very high
March 22%3%Low
April 100%15%Very high
May 90%14%Very high
June 77%12%Very high
July 94%15%Very high
August 86%13%Very high
September 40%6%Low
October 3%<1%Low
November 0%<1%Very high
December 0%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in April

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HY31Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HY44Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HY64Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
J26Lisburn and Castlereagh, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J38Antrim and Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J47Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J49Mid and East Antrim, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J64Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland100%Very high
NC02Highland, 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.