Although you would expect to see this in short grass by the sea, it also grows inland on waste areas and disturbed ground. There are also white varieties which I see often but which Stace thinks are rare. There is a small sub-species ssp dunense which would make the common one ssp bipinnatum but this is a doubtful split.

It is common inland in England and Wales but as you go north the distribution thins. There isn't much to be found on the north amd west coasts of Scotland and very little inland. In Ireland it is confined to the coast almost all round the island.