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The UK Bird Atlas

Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis)Where and when to see it in the UK

Status not yet classified · reporting peaks August · Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls · BOU category AF

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

Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis)
MPF, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Sandwich 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.

Sandwich Tern has been recorded in 993 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (33%) in records to 2026. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in August.

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
37% or more of visits
High
13% to 37%
Moderate
4% to 13%
Low
under 4%
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 2%<1%Low
February 1%<1%Low
March 7%<1%Low
April 38%4%Low
May 44%4%Low
June 49%5%Moderate
July 78%8%Very high
August 100%10%Very high
September 81%8%High
October 23%2%Low
November 7%<1%Low
December 3%<1%Low

Squares with the highest reporting rate in August

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HY40Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
J38Antrim and Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J56Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland100%Very high
ND44Sea, off Highland100%Very high
NG25Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NJ86Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NJ92Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NJ96Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NK03Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NK15Aberdeenshire, 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.