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Western yellow wagtail migration Motacilla flava
▶ Follow the Western yellow wagtail across the big globe
Press ▶ to play the year. Line: a simplified typical route, joining the main cluster of GBIF records in each month (adjusted for observer effort).
| Scientific name | Motacilla flava |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 26 cm |
| IUCN status | Least concern |
| Records mapped | 1,486,611 (GBIF) |
| GPS / geolocator tracks | none with an open licence yet |
Facts from Wikidata Q25984 (CC0).
When does the Western yellow wagtail arrive in the UK?
A summer visitor in the records: sightings rise sharply from early April, are near their peak by mid April, and fall away after late September.
Bars: this species’ share of all UK bird records in GBIF (CC0/CC BY), by month, scaled to the peak month. Based on 74,181 UK records. Weekly counts from the GBIF occurrence search API (country=GB). Dates are read from records, not from a survey, so treat them as a guide.
When do they arrive in and leave the UK? →
Migration in the data
1,486,611 GBIF records (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 licences only) are mapped here, in 1.41° grid cells, month by month.
In Europe and Africa, the centre of the records (adjusted for observer effort) is furthest north in July (about 53°N) and furthest south in December (about 10°N).
Month by month: centre of records in Europe and Africa
| Month | Centre (latitude) | South of the Equator |
|---|---|---|
| January | 10°N | 13% |
| February | 13°N | 13% |
| March | 26°N | 5% |
| April | 39°N | 1% |
| May | 48°N | 0% |
| June | 52°N | 0% |
| July | 53°N | 0% |
| August | 50°N | 0% |
| September | 41°N | 1% |
| October | 30°N | 3% |
| November | 14°N | 14% |
| December | 10°N | 16% |
Tracked birds
No openly licensed (CC0 / CC BY) tracking data package for this species was found in the Movebank Data Repository yet, so only records are shown.
About the Western yellow wagtail
The western yellow wagtail is a small passerine bird in the wagtail family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws. This species breeds in much of temperate Europe and Asia. Most populations are migratory, moving south to tropical Africa and southern Asia for the winter; the small population breeding in Egypt is however resident there.
From the Wikipedia article “Western yellow wagtail” (revision 1371477538), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources
GBIF occurrence records, licence CC0 1.0 or CC BY 4.0 only, observations only (no specimens), filtered with: taxonKey=9701857&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&hasGeospatialIssue=false&basisOfRecord=HUMAN_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=MACHINE_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=OBSERVATION. Monthly queries: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec. GBIF.org (23 October 2026) occurrence data accessed via the GBIF API; a GBIF download DOI is still to be added. Contributing datasets.