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The UK Bird Atlas

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks August to September · Sandpipers and Allies · BOU category AF

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

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa)
Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Black-tailed Godwit: 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.

Black-tailed Godwit has been recorded in 1,075 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (36%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in August to September.

Conservation status: Near Threatened (IUCN Red List, NT)
View on the IUCN Red List
Relative to this species' best squares (how classes are calculated)
Very high
33% or more of visits
High
10% to 33%
Moderate
3% to 10%
Low
under 3%
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 42%5%High
February 43%5%Very high
March 47%6%Very high
April 53%6%Low
May 36%4%Low
June 32%4%Low
July 77%9%Very high
August 100%12%Very high
September 93%11%Very high
October 68%8%High
November 54%7%High
December 44%5%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in August

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
D15Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
HP61Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU27Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU32Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU38Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU54Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
J33Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J38Antrim and Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland100%Very high
NF98Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NG35Highland, 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.