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The UK Bird Atlas

Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis)Where and when to see it in the UK

Winter visitor · reporting peaks January · Ducks, Swans, and Geese · BOU category AF

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

Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis)
No machine-readable author provided. Mdf assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Long-tailed Duck: 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.

Long-tailed Duck has been recorded in 665 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (22%) in records to 2026. Winter visitor in the UK. Its strongest squares are in Scotland, England and Wales. 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
29% or more of visits
High
7% to 29%
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 86%2%Very high
February 72%1%Very high
March 54%1%Very high
April 36%<1%Low
May 15%<1%Moderate
June 4%<1%Low
July 1%<1%Very high
August 1%<1%Low
September 5%<1%Low
October 57%1%High
November 100%2%Very high
December 79%1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in January

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HU59Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HY40Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HY41Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HY42Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
J37Belfast, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J54Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland100%Very high
ND26Highland, Scotland100%Very high
ND38Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
NF60Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NF96Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%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.