BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Tree Pipit

TREE PIPIT
Anthus trivialis

Tree Pipit © Peter Beaven

• Population
changes

• Productivity
trends

• Additional
information

Conservation listings

Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: amber (>50% population decline but data possibly unrepresentative)
UK Biodiversity Action Plan: priority species

Long-term trend

England: rapid decline

UK population size

74,400 territories in 2000 (1988–91 Atlas estimate updated using CBC/BBS trend: BiE04, APEP06)

Status summary

The species was moved from the green to the amber list in 2002, on the strength of its population decline. Tree Pipits occur in greatest abundance in Wales, northern England and Scotland, and thus the marked CBC decline between the two atlas periods may reflect the range contraction that occurred then in central and southeast England (Gibbons et al. 1993). Since 1994, CBC/BBS data have shown further severe decrease, especially in England. The causes of the population decline are unclear, but may be linked to changing forest structure, as new plantations mature, and reduced management of lowland woods (Fuller et al. 2005). In Thetford Forest, Tree Pipits prefer large blocks of habitat and benefit from targeted management such as the retention of mature trees for use as songposts (Burton 2007). There has been an increase in brood size and a substantial decline in failure rates over the 17-day egg stage; the species is on the NRS concern list, however, because of an overall decrease in nest survival (Leech & Barimore 2008). Although the species has no European conservation listing as yet, numbers have fallen widely in Europe since 1980 (PECBMS 2007), and the mean change across all European countries during the 1990s was a significant decline (Sanderson et al. 2006).

Population changes

Table of population changes for Tree Pipit

Source	Period (yrs)	Years	Plots (n)	Change (%)	Lower limit	Upper limit	Alert
CBC/BBS England	39	1967-2006	44	-83	-92	-71	>50
	25	1981-2006	48	-82	-91	-69	>50
	10	1996-2006	73	-30	-47	-7	>25
	5	2001-2006	64	-21	-36	-3
BBS UK	11	1995-2006	124	-14	-34	7
	10	1996-2006	125	-17	-36	3
	5	2001-2006	117	-22	-39	-7
BBS England	11	1995-2006	67	-35	-51	-11	>25
	10	1996-2006	67	-30	-47	-10	>25
	5	2001-2006	64	-20	-35	1
BBS Wales	11	1995-2006	32	-22	-55	17
	10	1996-2006	33	-27	-56	8
	5	2001-2006	32	-22	-43	-5

Productivity trends

Table of productivity changes for Tree Pipit

Variable	Period (yrs)	Years	Mean annual sample	Trend	Modelled in first year	Modelled in 2006	Change	Comment
Clutch size	38	1968-2006	10	None				Small sample
Brood size	38	1968-2006	28	Linear increase	4.38 chicks	4.74 chicks	8.2%	Small sample
Daily failure rate (eggs)	38	1968-2006	12	Curvilinear	4.87% nests/day	3.12% nests/day	-35.9%	Small sample
Daily failure rate (chicks)	38	1968-2006	19	Curvilinear	3.37% nests/day	4.11% nests/day	22%	Small sample
Laying date	38	1968-2006	19	Linear decline	May 25	May 16	-9 days	Small sample

Insufficient data on CES
available for this species

Additional information


	BTO Home \| JNCC Home © British Trust for Ornithology. Charity No 216652 (England and Wales).Charity No SC039193 (Scotland) Company Limited by Guarantee No 357284 (England and Wales). Registered Office: The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU, UK. Terms and Conditions \| Privacy Statement Email:
This report should be cited as: Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Leech, D.I., Joys, A.C., Noble, D.G., Barimore, C., Grantham, M.J., Risely, K. & Robinson, R.A. (2009). Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2008. BTO Research Report No. 516. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends) Pages maintained by Iain Downie, Mandy T Andrews and Laura Smith: Last updated 18.02.2009