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The UK Bird Atlas

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks March to July · Oystercatchers · BOU category AF

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

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)
MPF, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Oystercatcher: 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.

Oystercatcher has been recorded in 2,438 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (82%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in March to July.

Conservation status: Near Threatened (IUCN Red List, NT)
View on the IUCN Red List
Relative to this species' best squares (how classes are calculated)
Very high
58% or more of visits
High
32% to 58%
Moderate
11% to 32%
Low
under 11%
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%12%Low
February 71%19%Very high
March 88%23%Very high
April 93%24%Very high
May 100%26%Very high
June 98%25%Very high
July 100%26%Very high
August 73%19%Very high
September 62%16%Very high
October 58%15%Very high
November 48%13%Very high
December 45%12%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in March

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
C73Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
D21Mid and East Antrim, Northern Ireland100%Very high
D22Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
D24Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H14Fermanagh and Omagh, Northern Ireland100%Very high
HU16Sea, off Shetland Islands100%Very high
HU24Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU28Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU33Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU34Shetland Islands, 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.