The scientific name is from Latin: anthus is the name for a small bird of grasslands, and the specific trivialis means "common".

The tree pipit was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Alauda trivialis.

[3] The tree pipit is now placed in the genus Anthus that was introduced in 1805 by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein.

It can be distinguished from the slightly smaller meadow pipit by its heavier bill and greater contrast between its buff breast and white belly.

The bird rises a short distance up from a tree, and then parachutes down on stiff wings, the song becoming more drawn out towards the end.

The tree pipit breeds in habitats with a wooded component, including lowland heath and coppice.