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The UK Bird Atlas

Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur)Where and when to see it in the UK

Summer visitor · reporting peaks May · Doves and Pigeons · BOU category AF

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

Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur)
MPF, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Turtle Dove: 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.

Turtle Dove has been recorded in 657 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (22%) in records to 2026. Summer visitor in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Wales and Scotland. Reporting peaks in May.

Conservation status: Vulnerable (IUCN Red List, VU)
View on the IUCN Red List
Relative to this species' best squares (how classes are calculated)
Very high
100% or more of visits
High
8% to 100%
Moderate
1% to 8%
Low
under 1%
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 10%<1%Low
May 100%1%Very high
June 78%<1%Very high
July 76%<1%Very high
August 40%<1%Very high
September 18%<1%Very high
October 5%<1%Low
November 0%<1%Very high
December 0%<1%Low

Squares with the highest reporting rate in May

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HP60Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
NF09Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NF19Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NF75Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NU21Northumberland, England100%Very high
NZ51Redcar and Cleveland, England100%Very high
NZ71North Yorkshire, England100%Very high
SE10Kirklees, England100%Very high
SE36North Yorkshire, England100%Very high
SE50Doncaster, 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.