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The UK Bird Atlas

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks August to May · Ducks, Swans, and Geese · BOU category AC2F

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

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Geni, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Mute Swan: 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.

Mute Swan has been recorded in 2,254 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (76%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in August to May.

Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN Red List, LC)
View on the IUCN Red List
Relative to this species' best squares (how classes are calculated)
Very high
49% or more of visits
High
25% to 49%
Moderate
10% to 25%
Low
under 10%
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 99%30%Very high
February 96%29%Very high
March 97%29%Very high
April 100%30%Very high
May 92%28%Low
June 81%25%Low
July 82%25%Very high
August 87%26%Very high
September 89%27%Very high
October 90%27%Very high
November 96%29%Very high
December 96%29%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in January

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
C62Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
C83Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland100%Very high
D10Mid and East Antrim, Northern Ireland100%Very high
D40Mid and East Antrim, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H14Fermanagh and Omagh, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H15Fermanagh and Omagh, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H24Fermanagh and Omagh, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H76Mid Ulster, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H96Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Northern Ireland100%Very high
H98Mid Ulster, Northern Ireland100%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.