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The UK Bird Atlas

Pochard (Aythya ferina)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks November to March · Ducks, Swans, and Geese · BOU category AE*F

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

Pochard (Aythya ferina)
Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Pochard: 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.

Pochard has been recorded in 1,160 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (39%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in November to March.

Conservation status: Vulnerable (IUCN Red List, VU)
View on the IUCN Red List
Relative to this species' best squares (how classes are calculated)
Very high
31% or more of visits
High
9% to 31%
Moderate
3% to 9%
Low
under 3%
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 99%11%Very high
February 100%11%Very high
March 89%10%High
April 71%8%Low
May 65%7%Low
June 49%6%Very high
July 46%5%Low
August 52%6%Low
September 48%5%Moderate
October 56%6%Moderate
November 89%10%Very high
December 94%11%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in January

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
H76Mid Ulster, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J05Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J26Lisburn and Castlereagh, Northern Ireland100%Very high
J58Ards and North Down, Northern Ireland100%Very high
NH55Highland, Scotland100%Very high
NJ90Aberdeen City, Scotland100%Very high
NK03Aberdeenshire, Scotland100%Very high
NO31Fife, Scotland100%Very high
NO45Angus, Scotland100%Very high
NO55Angus, 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.