Editing Meadow pipit (section)

==Distribution and habitat==

It is primarily a species of open habitats, either uncultivated or low-intensity agriculture, such as grassland, moorland, and heathland, but also occurs in small numbers on arable land. In winter, it also uses saltmarshes and sometimes open woodland. It is a fairly terrestrial pipit, always feeding on the ground, but using elevated perches such as shrubs, fence lines, or electric wires as vantage points to watch for predators.<ref name=Snow/><ref name=Hoyo/><ref name=ebcc>Hagemeijer, W. J. M., & Blair, M. J., eds. (1997). ''[[The EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds]]''. Poyser, London {{ISBN|0-85661-091-7}}.</ref>

The total population is estimated at 12 million pairs. It is an abundant species in the north of its range, and generally the most common breeding bird of the British uplands, but is less common further south. Breeding densities range from {{convert|80|/km2|/sqmi|disp=preunit| pairs|abbr=on }} in northern Scandinavia, to {{convert|5–20|/km2|/sqmi|disp=preunit| pairs|abbr=on}} in grassland in the south of the breeding range, and just {{convert|1|/km2|/sqmi|abbr=on}} in arable farmland.<ref name=Hoyo/><ref name=ebcc/> A few isolated breeding pairs are recorded from south of the main range, in the mountains of [[Spain]], [[Italy]], and the northern [[Balkans]].<ref name=Snow/> There has been a general decline in the population over the past 17 years, most notablly in French farmland, where the species has declined by 68%.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/11/science/farmland-birds-decline.html|title=Farmland Birds in France Are in Steep Decline|last=Gorman|first=James|date=2018-04-11|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-04-12|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>