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The UK Bird Atlas

Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata)Where and when to see it in the UK

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

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

Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata)
Alan D. Wilson, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Surf Scoter: 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.

Surf Scoter has been recorded in 125 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (4%) in records to 2026. Winter visitor in the UK. Its strongest squares are in Scotland, England and Wales. Reporting peaks in February.

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
54% or more of visits
High
5% to 54%
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 71%<1%Low
February 96%<1%Very high
March 84%<1%High
April 81%<1%High
May 85%<1%Very high
June 5%<1%Very high
July 13%<1%High
August 23%<1%High
September 30%<1%Very high
October 72%<1%Low
November 100%<1%Moderate
December 83%<1%Moderate

Squares with the highest reporting rate in February

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HU59Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HY41Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
NJ16Moray, Scotland100%Very high
NO51Fife, Scotland100%Very high
NX40Isle of Man100%Very high
SJ29Wirral, England100%Very high
SS48Swansea, Wales100%Very high
SS54Devon, England100%Very high
SW43Cornwall, England100%Very high
SX04Cornwall, 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.