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The UK Bird Atlas

Pintail (Anas acuta)Where and when to see it in the UK

Winter visitor · reporting peaks October to February · Ducks, Swans, and Geese · BOU category AEF

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

Pintail (Anas acuta)
J.M.Garg, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Pintail: 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.

Pintail has been recorded in 1,021 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (34%) in records to 2026. Winter visitor in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in October to 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
25% or more of visits
High
6% to 25%
Moderate
2% to 6%
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 100%7%Very high
February 97%6%Very high
March 79%5%Very high
April 36%2%Low
May 10%<1%Low
June 4%<1%Low
July 4%<1%Low
August 11%<1%Low
September 69%5%High
October 91%6%High
November 97%6%High
December 94%6%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in January

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
HU31Shetland Islands, Scotland100%Very high
HY74Orkney Islands, Scotland100%Very high
NB43Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NF72Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NF77Na h-Eileanan Siar, Scotland100%Very high
NO24Perth and Kinross, Scotland100%Very high
NO50Fife, Scotland100%Very high
NO64Angus, Scotland100%Very high
NS35North Ayrshire, Scotland100%Very high
NS37Inverclyde, 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.