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The UK Bird Atlas

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks September to October · Falcons and Caracaras · BOU category AF

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

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Kestrel: 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.

Kestrel has been recorded in 2,608 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (88%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in September to October.

Conservation status: Not Evaluated (IUCN Red List, NE)
View on the IUCN Red List
Relative to this species' best squares (how classes are calculated)
Very high
32% or more of visits
High
17% to 32%
Moderate
8% to 17%
Low
under 8%
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 74%18%Very high
February 64%15%Very high
March 64%15%Very high
April 71%17%Very high
May 63%15%Low
June 64%15%Very high
July 69%16%Very high
August 82%20%Very high
September 96%23%Very high
October 100%24%Very high
November 83%20%Very high
December 73%17%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in September

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
C62Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
D03Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
D20Mid and East Antrim, Northern Ireland100%Very high
D22Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H95Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Northern Ireland100%Very high
HU41Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU47Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HY31Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
J08Antrim and Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J19Antrim and Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland100%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.