All records of Lesser Spots in February or March are important as their presence at this time of year of is a good indication that they may be breeding in the area.
Records are needed to monitor their current population and how well they are doing in an area.
Please report any sightings with the date and location to your local bird club or through BTO BirdTrack or direct to your county bird recorder.
The UK Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP) encourages and supports the recording and reporting of rare breeding birds in the UK, including Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. The Panel collates breeding data on all species with fewer than 2,000 breeding pairs in the UK in order to report annually on their numbers, trends and distribution, and maintain a secure archive to support conservation and research for these species. See more at The UK Rare Breeding Birds Panel .
So far this spring Woodpecker-Network volunteers have reporting sightings and Lesser Spots actively drumming and calling at sites throughout their range. Most records are from the New Forest but other sites include Ashdown Forest (East Sussex), Berkshire, the Blean Woods complex (Kent), Dartmoor (Devon), Essex, Hertfordshire, Sherwood Forest, The Brecks (Norfolk), Surrey, West Sussex and North East Worcestershire . Volunteers have also been estimating the number of LSW territories in the larger woodlands.
Thanks to all our volunteers and everyone who has submitted sightings this season.
Our Lesser Spotted Woodpecker web page gives more information on how to follow through an early spring sighting to find the breeding pair and possibly the nest to prove breeding.Goodluck!
Ken Smith's talk on The Joys and Challenges of Monitoring Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers for the Rare Breeding Bird Panel on 16 March is now available on RBBP's uTube website, Talk 10 The joys and challenges of monitoring Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers it lasts 15 minutes.
