In a typical year, around 160 species of bird are seen at Paxton Pits, though many of these are passage migrants which stay for only a day or even an hour. In total, 235 species have been recorded at Paxton Pits, or the land that now forms the Pits complex, since 1900. The species that have been recorded least frequently are Paxton’s Most Wanted, but below is a checklist of all the species recorded so far. The list is set out in the order adopted by the British Ornithologists’ Union.

R	Resident		A	Occasional (annual)
S	Summer Visitor		O	Occasional (less than annual)
W	Winter/Non-breeding		V	Vagrant
P	Passage migration		X	Not in the last 50 years

 

R	Mute swan
O	Bewick's swan
O	Whooper swan
V	Bean goose
O	Pink-footed goose
V	White-fronted goose
R	Greylag goose
R	Canada goose
R	Barnacle goose
V	Brent goose
A	Egyptian goose
V	Ruddy shelduck
R	Shelduck
O	Mandarin duck
W	Wigeon
R	Gadwall
R	Teal
R	Mallard
A	Pintail
A	Garganey
V	Blue-winged teal
R	Shoveler
O	Red-crested pochard
W	Pochard
V	Ring-necked duck
V	Ferruginous duck
R	Tufted duck
O	Scaup
V	Eider
V	Long-tailed duck
O	Common scoter
W	Goldeneye
W	Smew
V	Red-breasted merganser
W	Goosander
A	Ruddy duck
R	Red-legged partridge
O	Grey partridge
V	Quail
R	Pheasant
V	Red-throated diver
V	Black-throated diver
V	Great northern diver
R	Little grebe
R	Great crested grebe
O	Red-necked grebe
O	Slavonian grebe
A	Black-necked grebe
V	Fulmar
R	Cormorant
V	Shag
W	Bittern
R	Little egret
V	Great white egret
R	Grey heron
V	Purple heron
V	White stork
V	Spoonbill
V	Honey-buzzard
A	Red kite
A	Marsh harrier
V	Hen harrier
V	Montagu's harrier
V	Goshawk
R	Sparrowhawk
R	Buzzard
O	Osprey
R	Kestrel
V	Red-footed falcon
A	Merlin
S	Hobby
A	Peregrine
R	Water rail
V	Spotted crake
X	Corncrake
R	Moorhen
R	Coot
S	Oystercatcher
V	Avocet
S	Little ringed plover
S	Ringed plover
X	Killdeer
V	American golden plover
W	Golden plover
O	Grey plover
R	Lapwing
O	Knot
O	Sanderling
A	Little stint
V	Temminck's stint
V	Pectoral sandpiper
O	Curlew sandpiper
P	Dunlin
P	Ruff
A	Jack snipe
W	Snipe
W	Woodcock
P	Black-tailed godwit
O	Bar-tailed godwit
P	Curlew
P	Whimbrel
O	Spotted redshank
R	Redshank
P	Greenshank
W	Green sandpiper
P	Wood sandpiper
P	Common sandpiper
A	Turnstone
V	Red-necked phalarope
V	Grey phalarope
V	Arctic skua
A	Mediterranean gull
P	Little gull
R	Black-headed gull
W	Common gull
W	Lesser black-backed gull
R	Herring gull
R	Yellow-legged gull