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The UK Bird Atlas

Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks November to December · Ducks, Swans, and Geese · BOU category AC2E*F

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

Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina)
Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Red-crested Pochard: 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.

Red-crested Pochard has been recorded in 419 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (14%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Wales and Scotland. Reporting peaks in November to December.

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
53% or more of visits
High
4% to 53%
Moderate
1% to 4%
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 79%<1%Low
February 72%<1%Low
March 72%<1%Moderate
April 73%<1%Very high
May 73%<1%Low
June 69%<1%High
July 55%<1%Very high
August 56%<1%Low
September 63%<1%Moderate
October 62%<1%Very high
November 100%1%High
December 89%1%High

Squares with the highest reporting rate in November

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
SD45Lancashire, England100%Very high
SE32Wakefield, England100%Very high
SE83East Riding of Yorkshire, England100%Very high
SK13Derbyshire, England100%Very high
SK31Leicestershire, England100%Very high
SK40Leicestershire, England100%Very high
SK41Leicestershire, England100%Very high
SK48Rotherham, England100%Very high
SK54Nottinghamshire, England100%Very high
SK60Leicestershire, England100%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.