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The UK Bird Atlas

Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)Where and when to see it in the UK

Status not yet classified · reporting peaks September · Chats, Old World Flycatchers, and Allies · BOU category AF

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

Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra)
El Golli Mohamed, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Whinchat: 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.

Whinchat has been recorded in 1,531 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (52%) in records to 2026. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in September.

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
28% or more of visits
High
5% to 28%
Moderate
1% to 5%
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%Very high
February 0%<1%Very high
March 0%<1%Very high
April 15%<1%Low
May 24%1%Very high
June 10%<1%Very high
July 9%<1%Very high
August 55%3%High
September 100%5%High
October 18%<1%Low
November 0%<1%Very high
December 0%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in September

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HU41Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU69Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
ND37Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NG42Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NJ86Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NJ91Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NK02Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NK03Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NK05Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NK06Aberdeenshire, 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.