BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Meadow Pipit

MEADOW PIPIT
Anthus pratensis

Conservation listings

Europe: no SPEC category (concentrated in Europe, conservation status favourable)
UK: amber (25-50% population decline)

Long-term trend

England: moderate decline

Distribution maps

Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.

Status summary

Moorland, the key Meadow Pipit habitat, was not covered well by the CBC, but BBS now provides more representative monitoring for this species. The decline in CBC/BBS trend since the mid 1970s, accompanied by a range contraction from lowland England (Gibbons et al. 1993), has now been recognised as worthy of conservation concern, with the species' move from the green to the amber list. 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). Nest failure rates at the 12-day nestling stage have declined markedly, which may reflect the loss of birds from suboptimal habitat. Changes in laying date are related to climate change (Crick & Sparks 1999). BBS has recorded increases since 1994 in Northern Ireland and Wales but no change in the UK as a whole.

Table of population changes for Meadow Pipit

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

CBC/BBS England 35 1967-2002 101 -39 -73 -3 >25

25 1977-2002 128 -46 -69 -28 >25

10 1992-2002 269 -23 -38 -6

5 1997-2002 346 10 1 18

BBS UK 9 1994-2003 628 3 -2 8

BBS England 9 1994-2003 309 -3 -10 4

BBS Scotland 9 1994-2003 192 0 -10 10

BBS Wales 9 1994-2003 73 19 3 37

BBS N.Ireland 9 1994-2003 51 39 7 80

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 34 1968-2002 38 None

Brood size 34 1968-2002 71 None

Daily failure rate (eggs) 34 1968-2002 48 None

Daily failure rate (chicks) 34 1968-2002 65 Linear decline 0.0277 nests/day 0.0113 nests/day -0.0164 nests/day

Laying date 34 1968-2002 41 Linear decline day 138 day 130 -8 days

Insufficient data on CES
available for this species


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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., Beaven, L.P., Coombes, R.H., Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. and Thewlis, R.M. (2005) Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2004. BTO Research Report No. 385. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends) Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 18 January, 2006