Rock Pipit - 1949 status

Anthus spinoletta petrosus

Common resident along rocky coasts and all the islands, including Grassholm.

R.M.Lockley, G.C.S.Ingram, H.M.Salmon, 1949, The Birds of Pembrokeshire, The West Wales Field Society

Rock Pipit - 2003-07

Rock Pipits breed all around the rocky open coast on mainland Pembrokeshire, and on the offshore islands, including Grassholm, some 12 miles west of the mainland, where they nest on/in cliff faces. They also occur within the sheltered Milford Haven Waterway, on rocky shores backed by cliffs. 

The data from the 2003-07 tetrad survey suggest that, although the Rock Pipit remains a common breeding resident on the islands and mainland coast, there have been changes in the distribution of breeding pairs, and probably in the overall number of pairs.

The data indicate that Rock Pipits have disappeared from 20 tetrads in which they were recorded as confirmed breeding in the 1984-88 tetrad survey, which represents a 9% rate of decline.  On the other hand, there was a significant increase, an almost doubling, of the number of tetrads where Rock Pipits were recorded as “probable breeding”.

 A look at the tetrad map confirms that Rock Pipits have disappeared as a breeding species from the upper Daugleddau Estuary, much of the inner and outer sections of the Milford Haven Waterway, and from the open coast in the Amroth/Wisemans Bridge/Saundersfoot area.  Elsewhere on the coast, it is worth noting that several of the tetrads where Rock Pipits were recorded as probable breeding coincide with parts of the coast that are particularly difficult to survey from the cliff tops.  Observers may have erred on the side of caution because they were unable to obtain sufficient evidence to confirm breeding in these tetrads.  If this is the case, then it is likely that the distribution of the breeding population on most of the outer coast remained stable between the two tetrad surveys.

In terms of the size of the breeding population, the situation is less clear.  The Pembrokeshire Bird Report for 2003 notes that there were 30 territories occupied by Rock Pipits on Skokholm Island.  A comparison between this and the figure of 41 occupied territories quoted for Skokholm Island in 1990  suggests a decline of up to 27% in breeding Rock Pipits on the island during that period. 

Reasons for the decline recorded on Skokholm Island are not immediately obvious, although a lack of insect food at critical stages in the breeding cycle, perhaps resulting from poor weather may be a factor, and it may not be representative of the population as a whole. A 9% decline in the number of tetrads in which breeding was confirmed between the two tetrad surveys, however, would put the total population at around 900 pairs.

Jane Hodges

 

Fieldwork 2003-07 (based on 490 tetrads)

Red = breeding confirmed = 51

Orange = breeding probable = 40

Yellow = breeding possible = 11

Total tetrads in which registered = 102 (20.8%)

Rock Pipit - 1994

Breeding resident and passage migrant

A common resident to Mathew (1894) and Lockley et al. (1949), today Rock Pipits breed all around the rocky outer coastline, on the offshore islands and some way up the shores of the Cleddau Estuary (see map). An estimate average density of eight pairs per tetrad, based on census data from Skokholm and Skomer suggests a total breeding population of about 1,000 pairs.

They are found around all of the estuaries during the winter but otherwise appear to be sedentary. However, Scandinavian Rock Pipits subspecies littoralis have been noted on passage in May, a period when Grey-headed Wagtails bound for Scandinavian regions have also been seen. Scandinavian Rock Pipits were also identified at Skomer from 7 to 11 September 1990 and at Hook on 6 December 1981.

Fieldwork 1984-88 (based on 478 tetrads)

Red = breeding confirmed = 71

Orange = breeding probable = 23

Yellow = breeding possible = 15

Total tetrads in which registered = 109 (22.8%)

Donovan J.W. & Rees G.H (1994), Birds of Pembrokeshire

Rock Pipit - 1970s breeding

Red = breeding confirmed

Orange = breeding probable

Yellow = breeding possible

Rock Pipit - 1980s winter atlas

The BTO winter atlas showed that Rock Pipits were present in most coastal and estuarine 10km squares during the winters of 1981-82, 1982-82 and 1983-84.

The darker the colour, the higher the relative total count for each 10km square.  The darkest blue represents over 16 birds.

Graham Rees 

Rock Pipit - 1894

Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"

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