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BTO Blueline
MEADOW PIPIT
Anthus pratensis
Meadow Pipit © G H Higginbotham
 

• Population
  changes

• Productivity
  trends

• Additional
  information
Conservation listings
Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: amber (25–50% population decline)
Long-term trend
England: moderate decline
UK population size
1,680,000 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)
Status summary
The CBC/BBS trend has been downward since the mid 1970s, accompanied by a range contraction from lowland England (Gibbons et al. 1993). Meadow Pipits are partial migrants and conditions on the Iberian wintering grounds have been linked to the decline, as have losses of marginal land from parts of the breeding range (Gibbons et al. 1993). Moorland, the key Meadow Pipit habitat, was not covered well by the CBC, leading to some doubt about the significance of the early results for this species, but BBS now provides more representative monitoring. With the species' move from the green to the amber list, however, its decrease has been recognised as worthy of conservation concern. Nest failure rates at the 12-day nestling stage have declined markedly, which may reflect the loss of birds from suboptimal habitat. A trend towards earlier laying is probably related to climate change (Crick & Sparks 1999).
 

Population changes
CBC/BBS England graph
 
BBS acknowledgement
 
BBS UK graph
BBS England graph
BBS Scotland graph
BBS Wales graph
BBS N Ireland graph
 

Productivity trends
 
Clutch size graph
Brood size graph
Egg nest failure graph
Chick nest failure graph
Laying date graph

 

 

Insufficient data on CES
available for this species
 

Additional information
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This report should be cited as:
Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Crick, H.Q.P., Noble, D.G., Balmer, D.E., Barimore, C., Coombes, R.H.,
Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. & Thewlis, R.M. (2007)
Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2007.
BTO Research Report No. 487. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 7 November, 2008