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The UK Bird Atlas

Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)Where and when to see it in the UK

Status not yet classified · reporting peaks August · Wagtails and Pipits · BOU category AF

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

Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)
Frebeck, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Yellow Wagtail: 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.

Yellow Wagtail has been recorded in 1,374 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (46%) in records to 2026. Its strongest squares are in England, Wales and Scotland. 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
25% or more of visits
High
7% to 25%
Moderate
2% to 7%
Low
under 2%
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 1%<1%Very high
April 64%5%Low
May 61%5%Very high
June 27%2%Very high
July 41%3%Very high
August 100%8%High
September 85%7%High
October 6%<1%Low
November 0%<1%Very high
December 0%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in August

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
NT00Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland100%Very high
NT93Northumberland, England100%Very high
NU00Northumberland, England100%Very high
NY06Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland100%Very high
NY74Westmorland and Furness, England100%Very high
NY92County Durham, England100%Very high
NZ14County Durham, England100%Very high
NZ27Northumberland, England100%Very high
SC39Isle of Man100%Very high
SD29Westmorland and Furness, 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.