Shoveler

Shoveler

Anas clypeata

This duck really lives up to its name. It has a big, shovel‑shaped bill that it sweeps from side to side in the water to scoop up food.

All about shovelers

A common dabbling duck, it breeds in small numbers in the UK, but is widespread in winter.

Male shovelers have dark green heads, white chests and orangey‑brown sides during the breeding season. Females are mottled brown with a pale blue forewing. Both sexes have the long, wide bill that makes them easy to tell apart from other dabbling ducks.

From a distance, people sometimes mix them up with shelducks, but a closer look shows they’re different colours and have very different bills.

Migration stories

Shovelers breed in small numbers in the UK, mainly in southern and eastern England. They’re especially found around the Ouse Washes, the Humber, and the North Kent Marshes, with a few also nesting in Scotland and western England.

Outside the breeding season, the UK becomes a much more important place for them. Many shovelers spend the winter along the Solent and elsewhere in the country after travelling from eastern Finland, the Baltic countries, and western Russia. Some shovelers continue even farther south to France and Spain, and a few of our own UK‑born birds join them.

Conservation status

Shovelers are amber listed in the UK. They are one of the species that helped qualify the Chichester and Langstone Harbours Special Protection Area, because nationally important numbers spend the winter on these coasts.