Tree Pipit Anthus trivialis

The Tree Pipit, Anthus trivialis, is a slender, subtly marked summer migrant belonging to the family Motacillidae, arriving from West Africa each spring. Closely resembling the resident Meadow Pipit, it is distinguished by its stronger facial pattern, more richly buff-toned breast with fine streaking, and – most reliably – its song and song-flight: launching from a tree or prominent perch, ascending steeply, and then parachuting down on spread wings whilst delivering a rich, varied song that ends in a distinctive slowing cadence. A bird of open woodland, heathland with scattered trees, and young plantation edges, it requires both elevated song-posts and areas of short, open ground for foraging and nesting. Suffolk’s Breckland and Sandlings heathland holds a notable breeding population. The Tree Pipit has declined and is a Red List species in Britain. Image: © Irina Kalashnikova, iNaturalist.

Find out more: RSPB, iNaturalist