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The UK Bird Atlas

Firecrest (Regulus ignicapilla)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks October · Kinglets · BOU category A

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

Firecrest (Regulus ignicapilla)
Frank Vassen, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Firecrest: 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.

Firecrest has been recorded in 885 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (30%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Wales and Scotland. Reporting peaks in October.

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
5% to 25%
Moderate
2% to 5%
Low
under 2%
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 47%1%Low
February 54%1%Very high
March 62%2%Very high
April 44%1%Very high
May 43%1%Very high
June 33%<1%High
July 16%<1%Very high
August 22%<1%Moderate
September 42%1%Very high
October 100%2%High
November 72%2%High
December 57%1%High

Squares with the highest reporting rate in October

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HP60Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HP61Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU44Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
J64Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland100%Very high
NC46Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NL94Argyll and Bute, Scotland100%Very high
NO43Angus, Scotland100%Very high
NT96Scottish Borders, Scotland100%Very high
NZ08Northumberland, England100%Very high
SD34Lancashire, 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.