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The UK Bird Atlas

Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)Where and when to see it in the UK

Scarce migrant · reporting peaks December · Kingfishers · BOU category A

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

Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)
mikebaird, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Too few records to rate squares by month. Each marked square has at least one record; the table below gives the count and years.

Belted Kingfisher: 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.

Belted Kingfisher has been recorded in 8 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (0%) in records to 2026. Scarce migrant in the UK. Reporting peaks in December.

Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN Red List, LC)
View on the IUCN Red List

Records by 10 km square

SquareWhereRecordsYearsVerified
SD52Lancashire, England1852021 to 2022unverified
SD53Lancashire, England182021 to 2022unverified
SD62Blackburn with Darwen, England122021 to 2022unverified
SV91Isles of Scilly, England12018unverified
NJ80Aberdeen City, Scotland212005unverified
SJ92Staffordshire, England122005unverified
NO89Aberdeenshire, Scotland22005unverified
SK02Staffordshire, England12005unverified

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.