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The UK Bird Atlas

Scottish Crossbill (Loxia scotica)Where and when to see it in the UK

Status not yet classified · reporting peaks April · Finches, Euphonias, and Allies · BOU category A

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

Scottish Crossbill (Loxia scotica)
Richard Crossley, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Scottish Crossbill: 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.

Scottish Crossbill has been recorded in 54 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (2%) in records to 2026. Its strongest squares are in Scotland. Reporting peaks in April.

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
100% to 100%
Moderate
9% to 100%
Low
under 9%
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 19%<1%Very high
February 68%<1%Very high
March 41%<1%Very high
April 100%<1%Low
May 41%<1%Very high
June 17%<1%Very high
July 50%<1%Very high
August 19%<1%Very high
September 22%<1%Very high
October 13%<1%Very high
November 33%<1%Moderate
December 44%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in April

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
NH92Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NJ01Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NJ30Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NJ35Moray, Scotland100%Very high
NJ62Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NO49Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NO08Aberdeenshire, Scotland87%Moderate
NJ40Aberdeenshire, Scotland23%Moderate
NN55Perth and Kinross, Scotland23%Moderate
NO09Aberdeenshire, Scotland20%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.