United Kingdom Ramsar wetland
The Wash
35 bird species recorded; the most in January.
RuthAS · CC BY 3.0
This month here
24 species in January.0 species in February.3 species in March.1 species in April.3 species in May.0 species in June.3 species in July.1 species in August.19 species in September.18 species in October.6 species in November.0 species in December.
The birds you are most likely to see in the month you choose, those that come for the season first. It opens on today's month.
NT
VU
NT
VU
No records for this month.
VUNo records for this month.
NTVUNTVUVUNTNTVUNo records for this month.
- Resident all year
- Summer visitor comes to breed
- Winter visitor comes for the winter
- Passage migrant in spring and autumn
In numbers
35 species, counted.
Our own rating, from the records only: species (50 points), threatened species (20), migrants (20) and protected status — Ramsar, IBA, SPA, observatory (10).
- 35Speciesrecorded more than once
- 9Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
- 2ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
- 211Recordsopen records within 6 km
- 10Waders
- 14Gulls & seabirds
- 8Ducks & geese
- 2Herons, ibises & grebes
- 1Other birds
From open records (eBird and others, through GBIF, licensed for any use). More birdwatchers mean more records: a quiet place may have more birds than it shows.
The checklist
All 35 species.
By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.
Waders10 species
- Grey PloverPluvialis squatarolaVU
- Bar-tailed godwitLimosa lapponicaNT
- Eurasian CurlewNumenius arquataNT
- RedshankTringa totanus
- DunlinCalidris alpinaNT
- Eurasian OystercatcherHaematopus ostralegusNT
- Red KnotCalidris canutusNT
- Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpresNT
- SanderlingCalidris alba
- Common Ringed PloverCharadrius hiaticula
Gulls & seabirds14 species
- Common GullLarus canus
- Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscus
- European Herring GullLarus argentatus
- Black-headed GullChroicocephalus ridibundus
- Great Black-backed GullLarus marinus
- Black-legged kittiwakeRissa tridactylaVU
- Red-throated LoonGavia stellata
- Common MurreUria aalge
- Arctic SkuaStercorarius parasiticus
- Great skuaStercorarius skua
- Northern gannetMorus bassanus
- Black TernChlidonias niger
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
- Little TernSternula albifrons
Ducks & geese8 species
- Common EiderSomateria mollissimaNT
- Brent GooseBranta bernicla
- Eurasian WigeonMareca penelope
- Common ScoterMelanitta nigra
- Red-breasted MerganserMergus serrator
- Common ShelduckTadorna tadorna
- Pink-footed GooseAnser brachyrhynchus
- Northern PintailAnas acuta
Herons, ibises & grebes2 species
- Great CormorantPhalacrocorax carbo
- Great Crested GrebePodiceps cristatus
Other birds1 species
- Grey PartridgePerdix perdix
Monthly presence relative to all bird records that month, so a busy month does not inflate every species.
When to go
The most species in January.
Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.
- Jan6°/2°58 mm
- Feb7°/2°51 mm
- Mar9°/2°49 mm
- Apr13°/4°42 mm
- May16°/8°56 mm
- Jun19°/11°70 mm
- Jul21°/13°69 mm
- Aug21°/13°71 mm
- Sep18°/10°48 mm
- Oct14°/8°71 mm
- Nov10°/5°66 mm
- Dec7°/3°63 mm
- Bar: species recorded that month.
- Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
- Rain: monthly total.
The place
The Wash.
Bay in England, UK
The Wash is a wetland of international importance (Ramsar) in United Kingdom.
35 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 211 open records.
The most recorded are the Common Gull, the Lesser Black-backed Gull and the European Herring Gull.
2 species come for the summer, 6 for the winter and 1 only pass through.
2 are threatened worldwide, including Black-legged kittiwake and Grey Plover.
The most species are recorded in January.
Get there and watch
- Butterwicknearest town · 14 km in a straight line
- Norwich Airport (NWI)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 74 km in a straight lineCar hire at NWI airport (Norwich, Norfolk)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The place and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the bird hides, towers and trails that OpenStreetMap shows.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- bird hides within 6 km
- observation towers within 6 km
- marked trails within 4 km
- visitor centres within 6 km
- viewpoints within 5 km
- car parks within 3 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- campsites within 10 km
- places to stay within 10 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
Around The Wash.
The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.
Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The place, as people saw it.
Other places nearby.
The Wash
United Kingdom
- 38Birdyas Score
- 35Species
- 9Migrants
- 2Threatened
Holme Bird Observatory
United Kingdom · 21 km
- 90Birdyas Score
- 297Species
- 134Migrants
- 16Threatened
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q1463998) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Birds | 211 open bird records within 6 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only; mostly eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology) |
| See these records | gbif.org |
| Species | GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikidata (CC0); Wikimedia Commons |
| Altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Temperature and rain | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Islandyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
beaches
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lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
birdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.You are here
forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit