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The UK Bird Atlas

Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks August to November · Kites, Old World Vultures, Eagles, and Hawks · BOU category AF

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

Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus)
Hajotthu, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Sparrowhawk: 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.

Sparrowhawk has been recorded in 2,550 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (86%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in August to November.

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
17% or more of visits
High
10% to 17%
Moderate
5% to 10%
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 71%9%Very high
February 67%9%Very high
March 75%10%Very high
April 78%10%Very high
May 48%6%Low
June 37%5%Low
July 51%7%Very high
August 90%12%Very high
September 97%12%Very high
October 100%13%Very high
November 85%11%Very high
December 72%9%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in August

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
C80Mid Ulster, Northern Ireland100%Very high
C81Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
C90Mid Ulster, Northern Ireland100%Very high
C92Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
C93Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
D20Mid and East Antrim, Northern Ireland100%Very high
D21Mid and East Antrim, Northern Ireland100%Very high
D22Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H48Fermanagh and Omagh, Northern Ireland100%Very high
HP61Shetland Islands, 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.