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Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus)Distribution and seasonality in the UK

Status not yet classified · reporting peaks September · Sandpipers and Allies · BOU category AF

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

Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus)
Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Red-necked Phalarope: 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-necked Phalarope has been recorded in 78 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (3%) in records to 2026. Its strongest squares are in England, Wales and Scotland. Reporting peaks in September.

Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN Red List, LC)
View on the IUCN Red List

This species is protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is an offence to disturb it at or near the nest without a licence. Breeding-season distribution is not shown and square-level counts are withheld.

Relative to this species' best squares (how classes are calculated)
Very high
100% or more of visits
High
3% to 100%
Moderate
<1% to 3%
Low
under <1%
Surveyed, not recorded
at least 20 qualifying visits, no record
Insufficient records
too few visits to say
Not shown in the breeding season
sensitive breeding species
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%Insufficient records
April 1%<1%Very high
May 24%<1%Insufficient records
June 27%<1%Insufficient records
July 14%<1%Insufficient records
August 49%<1%Insufficient records
September 100%<1%Moderate
October 19%<1%Very high
November 2%<1%Moderate
December 0%<1%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.