The Meadow Pipit

The Meadow Pipit, Anthus pratensis, is a small, flighty songbird which birdwatchers often put in the class of LBJ’s or ‘Little Brown Jobbies’, as they are sometimes hard to distinguish from other songbirds that can be found in the British isles. Their scientific name comes from the Greek word anthus, meaning ‘bloom’ or ‘flower’ and the Latin word for meadow; pratensis.

Identification

They are ubiquitous and very common on the moors and hills of the British isles and are small birds with speckled, tawny brown plumage, light coloured legs and white tail feathers. Their song is a high, treble piping and very evocative of the uplands in summer.

In spring they perform a very energetic courting display, climbing laboriously whilst singing and then slowly parachuting back down, only to begin all over again, this is quite similar to the Skylark’s display although skylark are becoming quite rare on Britain’s uplands due to loss of habitat and predation.

Migration

In winter a large proportion of our Meadow pipits migrate to North Africa, Spain and Southern Europe, a lot more will head to the lowlands to forage in fields alongside birds they would not normally be seen with. There they will gather in flocks and keep a low profile to escape the attention of birds of prey.

Some years when the winter back home is exceptionally harsh, pipits from Iceland and Scandinavia will join the native British pipits and this can confuse things a bit for birdwatchers! One very sure-fire way of counting meadow pipits in a given area is waiting until a bird of prey such as Kestrel, Merlin or Harrier passes over, when all the areas pipits will join together in one flock to mob their common enemy until it is harassed enough that it leaves for somewhere quieter.

There are estimated to be around 2 million pairs in the British isles and numbers are in decline, this is thought to be due to several things; loss of habitat, reduction in insect numbers, increased predation and disturbance from land-users such as dog-walkers, cyclists and ramblers in the nesting season. Disturbance from dogs is a particular problem which is why it’s vitally important to keep your dog on a lead in the spring breeding season.

Diet

The diet of the Meadow Pipit consists of moths, insect larvae, flies, such as Craneflies, Caterpillars, beetles and the seeds of heather, sedges, rushes and grasses such as Cottongrass.

I have also seen them forage for worms disturbed by a farmer mending a wall in snowy weather, so they seem to be fairly omnivorous. There do seem to be less insects on the moors now compared to a decade or two ago so a decline in insects might be a main reason for the decline in pipits.

Breeding cycle

The breeding season for Meadow Pipits is in spring, the female constructing a very well camouflaged nest out of dried grass and moss, Meadow Pipits themselves are supremely well camouflaged and a female sitting on its nest is nearly impossible to spot, they also won’t leave the nest until you almost step on them which is another good reason not to go tramping around the fells too much in spring.

In a good year a pair will raise two broods, the female laying around 4 dark coloured eggs and the chicks hatching about 2 weeks later, the young fledge about 2 weeks after that and this is when they are the most vulnerable to birds of prey on the open moors.

They are also the main species of bird that the Cuckoo parasitises upon, and they may end up feeding Cuckoo chicks, as can be seen in this video, numbers of Cuckoos therefore closely reflect the population of Meadow Pipits.

Here in the north of England and elsewhere on the uplands of the British isles some excellent work is being done at the moment to maintain existing blanket bogs and create more, with drainage ditches being blocked and new growths of Sphagnum moss being encouraged. These areas of bog can be literally buzzing with insect life in the spring and are essential to birds like the pipit, so in the future there will hopefully be more of their captivating courtship displays to observe!

A B-H