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The UK Bird Atlas

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)Where and when to see it in the UK

Status not yet classified · reporting peaks August · Osprey · BOU category AE*F

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

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
El Golli Mohamed, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Osprey: 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.

Osprey has been recorded in 1,468 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (49%) in records to 2026. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in 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
100% or more of visits
High
9% to 100%
Moderate
2% to 9%
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 0%<1%Very high
February 0%<1%Very high
March 12%<1%Very high
April 49%1%Very high
May 51%1%Very high
June 57%1%Very high
July 62%2%Very high
August 100%3%Very high
September 66%2%Very high
October 15%<1%Very high
November 1%<1%Very high
December 0%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in August

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
D14Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
HU45Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HY31Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
NC12Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NC24Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NC83Highland, Scotland100%Very high
ND04Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NF73Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NG16Sea, off Highland100%Very high
NG85Highland, 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.