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The UK Bird Atlas

Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus)Where and when to see it in the UK

Winter visitor · reporting peaks January · Ducks, Swans, and Geese · BOU category AE*F

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

Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus)
Hans Norelius from Älvsjö, Sweden, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Lesser White-fronted Goose: 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.

Lesser White-fronted Goose has been recorded in 50 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (2%) in records to 2026. Winter visitor in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Wales and Scotland. Reporting peaks in January.

Conservation status: Vulnerable (IUCN Red List, VU)
View on the IUCN Red List
Relative to this species' best squares (how classes are calculated)
Very high
100% or more of visits
High
5% to 100%
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 100%<1%Very high
February 60%<1%Very high
March 37%<1%Very high
April 48%<1%Low
May 4%<1%Very high
June 5%<1%Very high
July 5%<1%Very high
August 9%<1%Very high
September 17%<1%Very high
October 46%<1%Very high
November 49%<1%Very high
December 56%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in January

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
SD34Lancashire, England100%Very high
SD45Lancashire, England100%Very high
TA41East Riding of Yorkshire, England100%Very high
TF51Norfolk, England100%Very high
TM45Suffolk, England100%Very high
TM46Suffolk, England100%Very high
TM57Suffolk, England100%Very high
TQ91East Sussex, England100%Very high
TF41Cambridgeshire, England34%High
SE40Barnsley, England5%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.