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The UK Bird Atlas

Pallid Swift (Apus pallidus)Where and when to see it in the UK

Status not yet classified · reporting peaks October · Swifts · BOU category A

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

Pallid Swift (Apus pallidus)
Ismael Olea, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Pallid Swift: 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.

Pallid Swift has been recorded in 72 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (2%) in records to 2026. 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
1% to 100%
Moderate
<1% to 1%
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 0%<1%Insufficient records
February 0%<1%Insufficient records
March 0%<1%Low
April 2%<1%Moderate
May 0%<1%Low
June 1%<1%Low
July 0%<1%Insufficient records
August 0%<1%Insufficient records
September 1%<1%Low
October 100%<1%Low
November 59%<1%Very high
December 0%<1%Insufficient records

Squares with the highest reporting rate in October

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
NO42Fife, Scotland100%Very high
NT58East Lothian, Scotland100%Very high
NT95Scottish Borders, Scotland100%Very high
SD34Lancashire, England100%Very high
ST76Bath and North East Somerset, England100%Very high
TA02North Lincolnshire, England100%Very high
TA24East Riding of Yorkshire, England100%Very high
TA26East Riding of Yorkshire, England100%Very high
TF57Lincolnshire, England100%Very high
TG50Norfolk, England100%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.