Whilst the meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis) is a fairly common breeding species in Britain it tends to favour high moors and open downland and so during the spring and summer it is more likely to be encountered in the north and west rather than here in Dorset. In Dorset we have little of the type of habitat they prefer for nesting and so the meadow pipit is primarily seen as a passage migrant species here. Indeed, large flocks can sometime be seen during autumn migration especially.
The weekly reports chart reflects this general view of the meadow pipit as a species passing through on migration. The spring incoming birds can start to arrive quite early in February and the reports then show regular arrivals through until week 16 at the end of April. The restricted breeding in Dorset is shown by the very few reports during the May to July period with the autumn exodus starting in August and reaching a peak from weeks 37 to 42 through September and early October. There are also occasional reports in mid winter that would suggest that a small number actually stay here rather than go further south unless forced to do so by severe weather.
Reports come from mainly coastal situations and are from sixty or so different locations but many of these have just a single record so far since the database started in January 2017. Ten sites have produced the bulk of the records and, interestingly, these sites tend to be in the west of the county from Portland, along the Fleet and on further west past Bridport and towards Lyme Regis. This is possibly because the high coastal downland in this part of the county is closest to their preferred nesting habitat.
Finding meadow pipits is not difficult; head to any high point along the western coast of Dorset in September and you will have a good chance of seeing them.
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