BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Meadow Pipit

MEADOW PIPIT
Anthus pratensis

Conservation Listings

Unlisted/Green
Biodiversity Steering Group Conservation Concern List

Long term trend

UK: Unknown
Lowland England: Moderate decline

Status Summary

Key Meadow Pipit habitats such as moorland are not covered well by the CBC, but the decline in the CBC trend since the mid 1970s may warrant conservation attention, especially because it was accompanied by a range contraction from lowland England (Gibbons et al. 1993). Meadow Pipits are partial migrants and conditions on the species' Iberian wintering grounds have been linked to the decline, as have losses of marginal land from breeding habitats (Gibbons et al. 1993). Nest failure rates at the 12-day nestling stage have declined from 30% to 13%, which may reflect the loss of birds from suboptimal areas. Changes in laying date are related to climate change (Crick & Sparks 1999).

Table of population changes for Meadow Pipit

Source Period
(yrs) Years Plots
(n) Change
(%) Lower
limit Upper
limit Alert Comment

CBC all habitats 31 1968-1999 44 -30 -63 9 Unrepresentative

25 1974-1999 45 -43 -66 -21 >25 Unrepresentative

10 1989-1999 37 -8 -33 14 Unrepresentative

5 1994-1999 37 -1 -24 19 Unrepresentative

BBS UK 6 1994-2000 620 4 -1 10

BBS England 6 1994-2000 304 -12 -18 -6

BBS Scotland 6 1994-2000 201 -3 -12 8

BBS Wales 6 1994-2000 69 19 2 38

BBS N.Ireland 6 1994-2000 44 126 76 191 Small sample

The Breeding Bird Survey is jointly funded by BTO, JNCC and RSPB

Table of productivity information for Meadow Pipit

Variable Period
(yrs) Years Mean
annual
sample Trend Predicted
in first year Predicted
in last year Change Comment

Clutch size 31 1968-1999 40 None

Brood size 31 1968-1999 76 None

Daily failure rate (eggs) 31 1968-1999 51 None

Daily failure rate (chicks) 31 1968-1999 70 Linear decline 0.0287 nests/day 0.0112 nests/day -0.0175 nests/day

Laying date 31 1968-1999 43 Linear decline day 138 day 131 -7 days

Insufficient data on CES
available for this species

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This report should be cited as:
Baillie, S.R., Crick, H.Q.P., Balmer, D.E., Beaven, L.P., Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Leech, D.I., Marchant, J.H.,
Noble, D.G., Raven, M.J., Simpkin, A.P., Thewlis, R.M. and Wernham, C.V. (2002) Breeding Birds in the Wider
Countryside: their conservation status 2001. BTO Research Report No. 278. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends)

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This page last updated: 21 April, 2008

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