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The UK Bird Atlas

Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea)Where and when to see it in the UK

Status not yet classified · reporting peaks July to August · Ducks, Swans, and Geese · BOU category BDE*F

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

Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea)
Davidvraju, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Ruddy Shelduck: 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.

Ruddy Shelduck has been recorded in 316 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (11%) in records to 2026. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in July to August.

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
100% or more of visits
High
3% to 100%
Moderate
<1% to 3%
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 25%<1%Very high
February 23%<1%Very high
March 14%<1%Very high
April 21%<1%Low
May 19%<1%Very high
June 48%<1%Low
July 89%<1%Moderate
August 100%<1%High
September 54%<1%Moderate
October 30%<1%Very high
November 22%<1%Low
December 14%<1%Low

Squares with the highest reporting rate in July

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
NJ06Moray, Scotland100%Very high
NK02Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NK05Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NZ33County Durham, England100%Very high
SD75Lancashire, England100%Very high
SE82East Riding of Yorkshire, England100%Very high
SJ28Wirral, England100%Very high
SJ47Cheshire West and Chester, England100%Very high
SJ58Halton, England100%Very high
SJ87Cheshire East, 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.