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The UK Bird Atlas

Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)Where and when to see it in the UK

Resident · reporting peaks January · Ducks, Swans, and Geese · BOU category C1E*

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

Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)
ALAN SCHMIERER, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Peak months
Ruddy Duck: 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.

Ruddy Duck has been recorded in 209 of the 2,971 10 km squares covering UK land (7%) in records to 2026. Resident in the UK. Its strongest squares are in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Reporting peaks in January.

Conservation status: Not Evaluated (IUCN Red List, NE)
View on the IUCN Red List
Relative to this species' best squares (how classes are calculated)
Very high
100% or more of visits
High
1% to 100%
Moderate
<1% to 1%
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 100%<1%Low
February 33%<1%Very high
March 60%<1%Very high
April 49%<1%Very high
May 39%<1%Low
June 41%<1%Very high
July 35%<1%Very high
August 40%<1%Very high
September 50%<1%Very high
October 38%<1%Very high
November 44%<1%Very high
December 34%<1%Very high

Squares with the highest reporting rate in January

SquareWhereShare of visitsClass
J06Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Northern Ireland100%Very high
SJ50Shropshire, England100%Very high
SJ78Cheshire East, England100%Very high
SK38Sheffield, England100%Very high
SK49Rotherham, England100%Very high
SP37Warwickshire, England100%Very high
SP68Leicestershire, England100%Very high
SP71Buckinghamshire, England100%Very high
SS59Swansea, Wales100%Very high
SS78Neath Port Talbot, Wales100%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.