The field guide
All UK duck species
Browse the full photographic guide. Filter by family or conservation status, or search by name. Each profile has male & female plumage, field marks, calls and habitat maps.
23 species found
Green list
🏠
Red-breasted Merganser
Mergus serrator
A slim, fast-flying coastal sawbill with a shaggy crest, more at home on the sea than the goosander.
- Length
- 52–58 cm
- Wingspan
- 67–81 cm
- Feeds
- Sea duck
Green list
❄️
Smew
Mergellus albellus
A petite, striking black-and-white sawbill — the "white nun" — that visits our lakes in hard winters.
- Length
- 38–44 cm
- Wingspan
- 56–69 cm
- Feeds
- Diver
Introduced list
🏠
Ruddy Duck
Oxyura jamaicensis
A small North American stiff-tail with bright blue bill, now rare in the UK after an eradication programme.
- Length
- 35–43 cm
- Wingspan
- 55–62 cm
- Feeds
- Diver
Amber list
❄️
Northern Pintail
Anas acuta
An elegant, long-necked dabbling duck with a needle tail — often called the "greyhound of ducks".
- Length
- 51–66 cm
- Wingspan
- 79–87 cm
- Feeds
- Dabbler
Amber list
🏠
Common Shelduck
Tadorna tadorna
A big, goose-like, strikingly patterned duck of estuaries and coasts, halfway between a duck and a goose.
- Length
- 55–65 cm
- Wingspan
- 100–120 cm
- Feeds
- Grazer
Red list
❄️
Greater Scaup
Aythya marila
A chunky, round-headed diving duck of the open coast, the sea-going cousin of the tufted duck.
- Length
- 42–51 cm
- Wingspan
- 71–80 cm
- Feeds
- Sea duck
Red list
❄️
Common Scoter
Melanitta nigra
A dark sea duck that winters in long, low, fast-flying strings far offshore.
- Length
- 44–54 cm
- Wingspan
- 79–87 cm
- Feeds
- Sea duck
Red list
❄️
Velvet Scoter
Melanitta fusca
A large, dark sea duck with a bright wing flash, rarer and bigger than its common cousin.
- Length
- 51–58 cm
- Wingspan
- 90–99 cm
- Feeds
- Sea duck
Red list
❄️
Long-tailed Duck
Clangula hyemalis
A small, buoyant Arctic sea duck with a needle tail and an astonishing musical voice.
- Length
- 38–47 cm
- Wingspan
- 69–76 cm
- Feeds
- Sea duck
Introduced list
🏠
Pochard (Red-crested)
Netta rufina
A large, flamboyant diving duck with an orange crew-cut, a growing naturalised resident in England.
- Length
- 52–58 cm
- Wingspan
- 80–95 cm
- Feeds
- Diver
Introduced list
❄️
Ring-necked Duck
Aythya collaris
A North American vagrant that turns up each winter on UK lakes, like a tufted duck with a white bill-ring.
- Length
- 39–46 cm
- Wingspan
- 63–66 cm
- Feeds
- Diver