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The UK Bird Atlas

Parrot Crossbill (Loxia pytyopsittacus)Where and when to see it in the UK

Status not yet classified · reporting peaks December · Finches, Euphonias, and Allies · BOU category A

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

Parrot Crossbill (Loxia pytyopsittacus)
Marton Berntsen, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Parrot Crossbill: 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.

Parrot Crossbill has been recorded in 43 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (1%) in records to 2026. Its strongest squares are in England and Scotland. Reporting peaks in December.

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 71%<1%Very high
February 48%<1%Low
March 11%<1%Very high
April 7%<1%Low
May 9%<1%Very high
June 21%<1%Moderate
July 17%<1%Low
August 8%<1%High
September 0%<1%Very high
October 36%<1%Low
November 38%<1%Moderate
December 100%<1%High

Squares with the highest reporting rate in December

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
TF17Lincolnshire, England100%Very high
TL78Suffolk, England100%Very high
SK19Derbyshire, England37%High
TG03Norfolk, England10%High
TL30Hertfordshire, England8%High
TQ83Kent, England4%High
SK66Nottinghamshire, England3%High
TL88Norfolk, England3%High
SU86Bracknell Forest, England2%Moderate
TQ43East Sussex, England1%Moderate

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.