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The UK Bird Atlas

Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks July to August · Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls · BOU category AF

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

Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus)
Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Lesser Black-backed Gull: 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.

Lesser Black-backed Gull has been recorded in 2,844 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (96%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in July to August.

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
21% to 40%
Moderate
10% to 21%
Low
under 10%
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 46%17%Low
February 55%20%Low
March 76%28%Very high
April 85%31%Very high
May 77%28%Very high
June 81%29%Very high
July 93%34%Very high
August 100%36%Very high
September 76%27%Very high
October 62%22%Low
November 59%21%Low
December 50%18%Low

Squares with the highest reporting rate in July

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
C42Derry City and Strabane, Northern Ireland100%Very high
D24Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H24Fermanagh and Omagh, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H76Mid Ulster, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H86Mid Ulster, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H99Mid Ulster, Northern Ireland100%Very high
HT93Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
J02Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J14Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J26Lisburn and Castlereagh, 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.