Lesser Spotted Woodpecker project for photographers
For most of us fieldwork is very restricted or even impossible now because of Covid-19 restrictions but you can still contribute to a valuable project which will help Lesser Spotted Woodpecker conservation …and you can do it from your desk.
We know that many people take good quality images of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and by now there must be many thousands stored in the cloud and elsewhere. These may hold valuable information on food being brought to the nest that will help in the conservation of the species.
Will Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers benefit from Ash Dieback?
Dead wood beetles and their larvae are an important source of food for woodpeckers. Will dead Ash trees boost the supply of beetles?
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker project - plans for 2020
Now is the time to get out into the woods and find Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers.
They are at their most conspicuous now (March and April) and are easily audible and visible (as there are no leaves on the trees). We (LesserSpotNet) have already had lots of reports of birds displaying, calling and drumming. So now is a great time for you to check suitable woodland for the presence of Lesser Spots and keep a record. During the winter their home range can be huge, hundreds of hectares, but in a few weeks, they will settle down in favoured nesting area. Still a big area but is much smaller than their winter range.
Please help with the Lesser Spot Network project this year.
'Woodpeckers' a great little book by Gerard Gorman
A great way to find out more about our British woodpeckers get a copy of 'Woodpeckers' by Gerard Gorman in the RSPB Spotlight series
Report on Breeding Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in 2019 now available
The 2019 Report on breeding Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers is published.
Thanks everyone for your contributions to understanding breeding Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and for finding so many nests in 2019!
This year we have excellent and important data from 23 nests in 9 different counties – our best year since we started the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker project in 2015.
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker by Richard Jacobs 2019 
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker © Tim Preston
Don't confuse juvenile Great Spotted Woodpeckers with male Lesser Spots - they both have red caps!
Newsletters
To download our newletters and reports, please use the links below:
Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in 2019