Day 164 - Marvellous Meadow Pipits

Hi all today's Day 164 and today's bird has a funny story. I did a post on Skylarks just after looking up what the bird was in the Collins Bird Guide and me an my parents weren't 100% sure that it was but we went with it anyway. We put a caption on the picture saying 'am I a Skylark?' Over Twitter lots of people told me that it was a Meadow Pipit (thanks guys) which is the bird that I thought it might be if it wasn't a Skylark. We looked it up again and it was confirmed. So here is the post on them.

Meadow Pipet ( Anthus pratensis )

Well, here are the facts:

• They are resident all over the UK apart from in Central-Southern England in the Winter and in Central Scotland in Summer.

• They are an Amber Status bird even though there are 2,000,000 breeding territories. This is because of a recent breeding population decline.

• Despite their name, they are actually found in all habitats but most frequent in Bog and Moorland. They are found in Towns the least, though.

It was very patient !

• They are small birds being 14cm in length and having a 24cm wingspan. Both Males and Females weigh just 19g.

• They eat insects like flies, beetles and moths. In Winter they eat seeds. They almost always feed on the ground for these meals.

• They have a typical lifespan of 3 years but the oldest doubles that and more with 7 years, 1 month and 30 days. This is probably because the adult survival rating is only 0.543.

So was this one on the North York Moors -
Snapped this before Toad Patrol - thin it's a Meadow Pippet

• They have an array of local names which are 'Titlark' , 'Hill Sparrow' and, my favourite of all, 'Moss Cheeper'.

• They've got a very 'catchy' scientific name. Anthos (Gr) = A small grassland bird described by Aristotle and Pratensis (La) = Found in Meadows. So the catchiest name for a bird ever is: A small grassland bird described by Aristotle found in Meadows. Phew!

Here are some links to some more information:

RSPB - Meadow Pipits

BTO Birdfacts - Meadow Pipits

British Garden Birds - Meadow Pipits

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.