The Woodpecker Network

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Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are feeding young.
As of 23 May, LesserSpotNetwork volunteers are monitoring 6 active nests with the first young due to fledge this week and the others over the next couple of weeks. So this the last chance to find a nest this year. If you found birds earlier in the season, please revisit the area and watch for adults bringing food to the young, they may lead you to find the nest.

Exciting news – we have reports of 19 active Lesser Spot nests, the most ever at this stage of the breeding season.

News update: Lesser Spotted Wodpeckers are starting to excavate their nesting cavities, so now is the perfect time to go out and look for them in your local woods. Watch a superb video here

Get set for the 2021 breeding season and look out for Lesser Spots now, see our guide to finding and monitoring nests. Despite all the disruption LesserSpotNet volunteers found and monitored 13 Lesser Spot nests last year - our latest newsletter reviews the 2020 nesting season.

Long-term trends in the nest survival and productivity of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Dryobates minor in Britain

This new paper by Ken Smith and Linda Smith published online in the BTO journal Bird Study on 1st July 2020, analyses nest record data for the last 70 years and shows that Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers really are in trouble in Britain.

Ken and Linda set up Woodpecker Network in 2015 to encourage the study of Lesser Spots to try to find out why they are declining in Britain. Since then woodpecker network volunteers have found and recorded breeding outcomes from over 60 nests. This information put together with historical data from BTO nest records has enabled us to discover what is going on.

LSW RichardJacobs leftcolLesser Spotted Woodpecker by Richard Jacobs 2019 LSW TimPreston 256Lesser Spotted Woodpecker © Tim Preston

Don't confuse juvenile Great Spotted Woodpeckers with male Lesser Spots - they both have red caps!

Dont confuse your woodpeckers

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