Meadow Pipits

Meadow pipits ( or mipits as some birders call them) are quite common in the UK generally – around 2 million pairs – but they are amber listed (index of birds of conservation concern) as numbers are declining. We haven’t seen many around Groombridge in recent years so I was surprised to come across a group of half a dozen gathering on the telephone wires then dropping down to the fields where they are effectively invisible with their excellent camouflage. During the winter months, some of our breeding birds leave the UK for southern Europe and North Africa. This is the time to visit migration watchpoints like Beachy Head when flocks of meadow pipits, thousands strong , head south.

You can tell they are meadow pipits and not the very similar tree pipit because they have a very long rear toe and claw adapted for a life on the ground. You can see this long rear claw very well on some of the photos. Also the tree pipit is a summer migrant so we wont be expecting them back until April next year – they are quite rare (red listed) but they can be seen at Broadwater Warren. In the spring, meadow pipits (and tree pipits) perform a distinctive fluttering, ‘parachute’ display flight. It’s on the ground where they both nest so they need areas where they won’t be disturbed . On moorlands, meadow pipits are the most common ‘foster parents’ of cuckoos. The female cuckoo, in just a few seconds, swoops in and lays a single egg which develops quicker than the host’s brood giving the young cuckoo time to turf out all the eggs and get the pipits undivided attention. Meadow pipits will eat, flies, moths, beetles and spiders foraging on the ground among short vegetation. In winter they will supplement their diet with seeds but they don’t often stray into gardens so look for them in the open fields.

Phil 14 Oct 23