More than 300 earthquakes recorded in UK in 2025

More than 300 earthquakes were recorded in the UK in 2025, British Geological Survey data shows.

The two largest earthquakes occurred just hours apart near Loch Lyon in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, when a 3.7 magnitude tremor was registered on 20 October, followed by one of 3.6.

Up to 18 December 2025, 309 earthquakes had been recorded across the UK. Areas of Perthshire and the western Highlands in Scotland, southern parts of Wales, and Yorkshire and Lancashire in England recorded the most seismic activity overall.

On average, the UK experienced an earthquake "almost once a day" in 2025, seismologist Brian Baptie said.

The report said 34 earthquakes in total occurred near Loch Lyon between October and December.

"The west of Scotland is one of the more active parts of the UK," Dr Baptie said.

Some of this can be attributed to geological faults including the Great Glen and the Highland Boundary Fault.

"By contrast, north-east Scotland experiences very few earthquakes."

Two minor earthquakes hit Lancashire in as many weeks in December, with the epicentre of the 2.5 magnitude tremor located off the coast of Silverdale, in Morecambe Bay.

The BGS confirmed the quake was an aftershock of a 3.3 magnitude earthquake which hit the area at the start of December.

Seismic activity is recorded by 80 monitoring stations around the UK, operated by BSG.

It said the UK experiences between 200 and 300 earthquakes a year but only about 20 or 30 are felt or heard by people.

This year, it received 1,320 reports from members of the public who felt tremors this year.

A magnitude-four event in the UK and surrounding areas is typically recorded every three to four years, and a magnitude-five event happens every few decades - with the most recent one in 2008 in Lincolnshire.

A magnitude-six earthquake happens every few hundred years.

The largest known earthquake in the UK occurred in 1931, near the Dogger Bank, in the North Sea off the coast of Yorkshire.

It had a magnitude of 6.1 and was powerful enough to cause minor damage to buildings on the east coast of England, despite its epicentre being 60 miles offshore.

In general, earthquakes are caused by the tectonic plates that make up the earth moving and rubbing together. Smaller earthquakes, including those experienced in the UK, can be caused by movements on geological faults in the Earth's crust.

The UK is situated within the Eurasian plate, more than 1,000 miles (1,600km) away from the nearest plate boundary. This is why it does not experience earthquakes as large as those in other parts of the world.