Subspecies
Possibly forms a clade with Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis), Rosy Pipit (Anthus roseatus), Red-throated Pipit (Anthus cervinus), Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta) and Buff-bellied Pipit (Anthus rubescens). May form a superspecies, and until recently treated as conspecific, with Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta) and Buff-bellied Pipit (Anthus rubescens). Variation somewhat clinal, from longer-billed darker birds at north-western edge of range to shorter-billed and paler ones in north-east. Subspecies kleinschmidti sometimes merged with nominate.
Proposed subspecies meinertzhageni (described from South Uist, off western Scotland), hesperianus (Arran, off western Scotland) and ponens (north-western France) considered inseparable from nominate.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
kleinschmidti (Montagu, 1798) - Faeroes and outlying Scottish islands of Shetland, Orkney, Fair Isle and St Kilda.
petrosus (Montagu, 1798) - Coasts of Ireland, Britain (except south-east), Channel Is and northern and north-western France.
littoralis Brehm, CL, 1823 - Breeds coasts of Fennoscandia and north-western Russia. Winters western European coasts (southern from southern Scandinavia) and north-western Africa.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet