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The UK Bird Atlas

Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii)Where and when to see it in the UK

Summer visitor · reporting peaks July · Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls · BOU category A

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

Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii)
MPF, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Roseate Tern: 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.

Roseate Tern has been recorded in 177 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (6%) in records to 2026. Summer visitor in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Wales and Scotland. Reporting peaks in July.

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
25% or more of visits
High
3% to 25%
Moderate
<1% to 3%
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%Insufficient records
April 1%<1%Low
May 24%<1%Low
June 76%<1%Very high
July 100%<1%Very high
August 69%<1%High
September 22%<1%Low
October 7%<1%Low
November 0%<1%Very high
December 0%<1%Insufficient records

Squares with the highest reporting rate in July

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HU30Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
J55Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland100%Very high
NK01Sea, off Aberdeenshire100%Very high
NK15Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NT18Fife, Scotland100%Very high
NT68East Lothian, Scotland100%Very high
NT69Sea, off Fife100%Very high
NZ44County Durham, England100%Very high
SH37Isle of Anglesey, Wales100%Very high
SH46Isle of Anglesey, Wales100%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.