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The UK Bird Atlas

Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis)Where and when to see it in the UK

Status not yet classified · reporting peaks February · Ducks, Swans, and Geese · BOU category AE*F

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

Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis)
Frebeck, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Red-breasted 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.

Red-breasted Goose has been recorded in 114 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (4%) in records to 2026. Its strongest squares are in England, Scotland and Wales. Reporting peaks in February.

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
100% or more of visits
High
4% to 100%
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 74%<1%Moderate
February 100%<1%Low
March 41%<1%Very high
April 53%<1%Moderate
May 32%<1%Low
June 12%<1%Moderate
July 5%<1%Low
August 5%<1%Moderate
September 27%<1%Very high
October 15%<1%Very high
November 30%<1%Very high
December 33%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in February

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
NX95Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland100%Very high
NY15Cumberland, England100%Very high
SJ48Liverpool, England100%Very high
ST55Somerset, England100%Very high
SU50Hampshire, England100%Very high
TM24Suffolk, England100%Very high
TM33Suffolk, England100%Very high
TM35Suffolk, England100%Very high
TM46Suffolk, England100%Very high
TM57Suffolk, England100%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.