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The UK Bird Atlas

Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks October · Ducks, Swans, and Geese · BOU category AC2E*F

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

Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis)
Linnea Samila, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Barnacle Goose: 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.

Barnacle Goose has been recorded in 1,176 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (40%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in October.

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
32% or more of visits
High
4% to 32%
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 82%2%Very high
February 77%2%Very high
March 62%2%Very high
April 67%2%Very high
May 67%2%Moderate
June 53%1%Low
July 54%1%High
August 57%2%Moderate
September 64%2%High
October 100%3%High
November 75%2%Very high
December 69%2%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in October

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HP60Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU15Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HU33Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
NB35Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NB45Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
ND39Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
NG49Sea, off Na h-Eileanan Siar100%Very high
NG99Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NH77Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NH78Highland, 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.