Bird watch: the tree pipit
Then... AG in 1959 and Now... AG in 2020
THE tree pipit is a summer visitor, wearing a brown mantle streaked and mottled with dusty browns, its underparts being of a much lighter shade, with a spotted breast. The male is quite a good songster and often sings on the wing, but seldom bursts further with his richest melody until he has risen well into the air, then downward to earth he dives again still singing.
Most tree pipits have their favorite perches from which to sing and perhaps the most amazing quality of their song is its carrying power.
Both sexes are equally attentive to their domestic duties. The nest, made of bents and grasses, is well concealed on the ground.
Four to six eggs are laid, varying in appearance from light greenish-blue to pinkish-white. Although normally single brooded, I have known instances where two families have been raised in the same season. B Melville Nicholas THE little tree pipit is an intrepid traveller, returning to our shores from subSaharan Africa each spring.
They are generally found
in the UK’s coastal areas, as well as most of Wales and Scotland, avoiding the interior of England. They prefer wooded areas and can be seen walking up and down the branches of their favourite trees, bobbing their tail as they go, searching for food.
They mainly eat invertebrates and insects as well as a little plant material, mostly early autumn berries.
They are an attractive bird, with their striped and mottled chest, and can be easily confused with the meadow pipit, though the latter is more plainly feathered and more likely to overwinter in the Iberian Peninsula. Ruth Hayes