When do Arctic terns arrive in and leave the UK?

A summer visitor in the records: sightings rise sharply from mid April, are near their peak by early May, and fall away after early October.

When do Arctic terns arrive in the UK?

In the GBIF records, UK sightings of the Arctic tern rise sharply from mid April and are near their peak by early May.

When do Arctic terns leave the UK?

UK sightings fall away after early October.

Arctic tern in the UK, month by month

Bars: this species’ share of all UK bird records in GBIF (CC0/CC BY 4.0 only), by month, scaled to the peak month. Based on 36,046 UK records (occurrence search API, country=GB, weekly). Dates come from sightings, not a survey, so treat them as a guide.

See the Arctic tern migration on the 3D globe →

About the Arctic tern

The Arctic tern is a tern in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America. …

From the Wikipedia article “Arctic tern” (revision 1381390398), CC BY-SA 4.0, shortened at a sentence end. Winter/summer areas: country containing the monthly hotspot of effort-adjusted GBIF records, using Natural Earth boundaries (public domain).

Other UK summer visitors: see the full list with arrival and departure dates.