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The UK Bird Atlas

Red Grouse (Lagopus scotica)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks April to May · Partridges, Pheasants, Grouse, and Allies · BOU category AF

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

Red Grouse (Lagopus scotica)
MPF, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Red Grouse: 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.

Red Grouse has been recorded in 803 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (27%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in Scotland, England and Wales. Reporting peaks in April to May.

Conservation status: Not Evaluated (IUCN Red List, NE)
View on the IUCN Red List
Relative to this species' best squares (how classes are calculated)
Very high
100% or more of visits
High
18% to 100%
Moderate
6% to 18%
Low
under 6%
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 37%<1%Very high
February 43%<1%Very high
March 66%<1%Very high
April 100%1%Very high
May 99%1%Very high
June 71%<1%Very high
July 46%<1%Very high
August 41%<1%Very high
September 46%<1%Very high
October 48%<1%Very high
November 43%<1%Very high
December 34%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in April

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HU35Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU36Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU37Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU44Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU45Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU47Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
J32Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland100%Very high
NB23Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NB33Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NB43Na h-Eileanan Siar, 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.