Anas acuta
An elegant, long-necked duck named for its needle-like tail.
Size: 51-66 cm | Habitat: Pond, Lake & River Birds | Season: Mainly a winter visitor
A slim, elegant duck, the pintail is easily told apart from other ducks by its long neck and, in males, a slender tapering tail. Small numbers breed in the UK, but far larger numbers arrive to spend the winter on estuaries and flooded grassland.
Long, slender neck · chocolate-brown head (male) · white breast stripe running up the neck · long pointed tail (male) · grey flanks
Pintails are dabbling ducks, up-ending in shallow water to graze on plants and seeds. They favour open estuaries, flooded fields, and large lakes, often mixing with wigeon and teal in winter flocks.
The pintail's UK breeding population is tiny — as few as 30 pairs some years — making winter, when thousands arrive from the Arctic, by far the best time to see one.
The Pintail (Anas acuta) is one of the most elegant UK ducks, with a long, slender neck and, in males, a needle-like tapering tail that gives the species its name.
Pintails barely breed in Britain — some years as few as 30 pairs nest, mostly in Scotland — but far larger numbers arrive each winter from Arctic Russia and Scandinavia to feed on estuaries, flooded grassland, and large lakes, often alongside wigeon and teal.
The huge gap between the pintail's tiny UK breeding population and its much larger wintering population is a good illustration of why "how many birds are here in winter" and "how many actually breed here" can tell very different conservation stories about the same species.
🟠 Conservation status: Amber (UK Birds of Conservation Concern 5)
Amber-listed under BoCC5, reflecting both its small and localised UK breeding population and its internationally important wintering numbers, which the UK has a responsibility to protect.