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The UK Bird Atlas

Lapland Bunting (Calcarius lapponicus)Where and when to see it in the UK

Passage migrant · reporting peaks October · Longspurs and Snow Buntings · BOU category AF

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

Lapland Bunting (Calcarius lapponicus)
Alaska Region U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service from Anchorage, United States, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Lapland Bunting: 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.

Lapland Bunting has been recorded in 313 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (11%) in records to 2026. Passage migrant in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. 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
100% or more of visits
High
2% to 100%
Moderate
<1% to 2%
Low
under <1%
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 17%<1%Low
February 16%<1%Low
March 24%<1%Very high
April 8%<1%Very high
May 1%<1%Low
June 0%<1%Moderate
July 0%<1%Very high
August 1%<1%Low
September 59%<1%Very high
October 100%<1%Very high
November 53%<1%Very high
December 11%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in October

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
D14Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
D15Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
HU16Sea, off Shetland Islands100%Very high
HU41Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU68Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
NF87Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NJ51Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NJ86Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NJ91Aberdeenshire, 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.