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The UK Bird Atlas

Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)Where and when to see it in the UK

Status not yet classified · reporting peaks February · Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls · BOU category A

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

Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)
Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Ring-billed Gull: 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.

Ring-billed Gull has been recorded in 93 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (3%) in records to 2026. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Reporting peaks in February.

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
4% to 100%
Moderate
<1% to 4%
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 78%<1%Very high
February 100%<1%Very high
March 39%<1%Very high
April 10%<1%Low
May 11%<1%Very high
June 10%<1%High
July 2%<1%Low
August 2%<1%Low
September 0%<1%Very high
October 2%<1%Low
November 3%<1%Very high
December 26%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in February

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
C42Derry City and Strabane, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H24Fermanagh and Omagh, Northern Ireland100%Very high
HU33Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
NH55Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NS33South Ayrshire, Scotland100%Very high
NT08Fife, Scotland100%Very high
NT18Fife, Scotland100%Very high
SJ43Shropshire, England100%Very high
ST56North Somerset, England100%Very high
SU09Wiltshire, 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.