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The UK Bird Atlas

King Eider (Somateria spectabilis)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks March · Ducks, Swans, and Geese · BOU category A

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

King Eider (Somateria spectabilis)
Seabamirum from Ithaca, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
King Eider: 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.

King Eider has been recorded in 55 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (2%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in Scotland, England and Wales. Reporting peaks in March.

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
17% or more of visits
High
4% to 17%
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 48%<1%Low
February 76%<1%Moderate
March 100%<1%Low
April 71%<1%High
May 30%<1%Moderate
June 80%<1%High
July 46%<1%Moderate
August 35%<1%Moderate
September 42%<1%Moderate
October 99%<1%Low
November 66%<1%Very high
December 33%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in March

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
NC90Highland, Scotland100%Very high
SN69Ceredigion, Wales100%Very high
SW72Cornwall, England100%Very high
HU59Shetland Islands, Scotland64%Very high
NZ62Redcar and Cleveland, England21%Very high
NH89Highland, Scotland13%High
NT47East Lothian, Scotland9%High
NH85Highland, Scotland7%High
NH95Highland, Scotland7%High
NT37East Lothian, Scotland5%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.