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The UK Bird Atlas

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks February to April · Grebes · BOU category AF

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

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus)
Alpsdake, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Great Crested Grebe: 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.

Great Crested Grebe has been recorded in 1,498 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (50%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in February to April.

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
40% or more of visits
High
16% to 40%
Moderate
5% to 16%
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 79%14%Moderate
February 85%15%Very high
March 100%18%Very high
April 99%18%Very high
May 83%15%Low
June 69%12%Very high
July 75%14%Very high
August 78%14%Very high
September 74%13%Low
October 73%13%Very high
November 90%16%Very high
December 85%15%High

Squares with the highest reporting rate in February

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
C62Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
C83Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
G95Fermanagh and Omagh, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H76Mid Ulster, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H98Mid Ulster, Northern Ireland100%Very high
HP61Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
J05Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J55Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland100%Very high
NB43Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NK02Aberdeenshire, 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.