Skip to content
The UK Bird Atlas

Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks November · Ducks, Swans, and Geese · BOU category AF

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

Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra)
Stefan Berndtsson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Common 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.

Common Scoter has been recorded in 1,035 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (35%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in November.

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
26% or more of visits
High
7% to 26%
Moderate
2% to 7%
Low
under 2%
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 56%3%High
February 48%2%Very high
March 44%2%Very high
April 35%2%Low
May 22%<1%Low
June 22%<1%Low
July 44%2%Very high
August 67%3%Moderate
September 83%4%High
October 83%4%High
November 100%5%Very high
December 64%3%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in November

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HY32Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
J54Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland100%Very high
NB45Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NG09Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NJ26Moray, Scotland100%Very high
NJ96Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NS14North Ayrshire, Scotland100%Very high
NS17Argyll and Bute, Scotland100%Very high
NS18Argyll and Bute, Scotland100%Very high
NS35North Ayrshire, 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.