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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 'Ant-Flinger'- fascinating observations by David Bevan @djbevanphoto.bsky.social of a male LSW systematically removing & discarding wood ants whilst foraging for aphids. Article & video just published in @britishbirds.bsky.social see britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker foraging for aphids

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Watch BBC Countryfile tonight, BBC One at 7:15. Woodpecker Network and @lesserspotnet.bsky.social volunteers, Ken and Linda Smith, will be in the New Forest talking about and looking for Woodpeckers.

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Thanks to @piedsandpiper.bsky.social the nest was checked yesterday, 2 good looking chicks snug in the nest cavity, both adults feeding.

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

May LSW nesting update. Go out now to look for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests. Adults actively feeding their young become more detectable. To find a nest this year, get out into the woods now, it will all be over in 4 weeks. Latest update on nests www.woodpecker-network.org.uk/index.php/news

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Connor Murphy

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

After our talk about Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers at @berksbirdclub.bsky.social thrilled to be given this woodcut monoprint on vintage wallpaper by the artist @peterdriver.bsky.social - 'Lesser Spotted now seldom seen' highlighting their decline since the wallpaper was made. Thank you Peter

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Something to celebrate - our 2025 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker report - successful breeding season, the most nests monitored & highest number of chicks fledged per nest since we started in 2015. Acoustic monitoring giving amazing results too, download here www.woodpecker-network.org.uk/images/L_S_W...

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at its nest in New Forest, photo by Steve Laycock

Six Lesser Spot young in a Quantocks nest, photo Gus Robin

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

We hear that LesserSpotNet volunteer Toby @tobywildlife.bsky.social will be featuring on Countryfile, BBC1 this Sunday at 17:15, in an item on the ecology of Herefordshire’s habitats - it could well be interesting.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker by Richard Jacobs

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

7 Acknowledgements - Thanks to all these Woodpecker Network volunteers for searching for and monitoring nests in 2025 and to many more who helped in this and previous years collecting this amazing data on our beautiful woodpecker

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

6 2025 was one of the warmest springs ever. As a result, all LSW nests hatched after the peak of caterpillars on 30th April and had to switch to an aphid diet. An abundance of aphids in 2025 let LSW escape from phenological mismatch with the caterpillars

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

5 LSW nesting is getting earlier. Throughout its range LSW is a late nesting woodpecker. This is probably adaptive to help the survival of small chicks. But in any year the earlier nesting birds are more successful. They can switch nestling diet to aphids once the caterpillars are gone.

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

4 Nationally there is a long-term decline in numbers of young fledged per nest (P=0.007) from about 4 to about 2 …but 2025 was the best year since our project started! The number of chicks fledged was the highest since we started the project in 2015

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

3 LSW excavate a nesting cavity each year, always in dead trees or in dead branches of live trees. The tree species has changed over the years now pioneers like Birch, Alder, Willow and Rowan are favoured

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

2 Since 1968 the LSW population has declined severely and their breeding distribution has contracted with birds lost from East Anglia, NE, central and SW England and Wales. Population estimated at 2000-3000 pairs. Breeding success is low compared with the rest of Europe

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

1 Pleased to be presenting the latest results gathered by Woodpecker-Network volunteers on Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and what we can do to conserve them better #BOUatEOU www.woodpecker-netwo...

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

LesserSpotNet special pin badges presented by @angusrobin.bsky.social to volunteers Stuart @stuckateur.bsky.social (left) & Ed @edhorncastle.bsky.social (right) who found and monitored breeding outcomes at LSW nests in Devon - many thanks both

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

As a special thank you, we are awarding unique Lesser Spotted Woodpecker pin badges to LesserSpotNet volunteers who found LSW nests this year or contributed in other ways. The Badges were designed & produced specially for us by @ukbirdingpins.bsky.social Thanks @angusrobin.bsky.social for organising

Information about the Woodpecker Network

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Another day - another 3 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests found and being monitored in Devon and the New Forest. Great work by LesserSpotNet volunteers. Healthy chicks being well fed by both parents in all the nests. More nests could be found this week.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker chicks in their nest cavity

LesserSpotNetwork volunteers observing a LSW nest high in a Birch tree

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Some Lesser Spotted Woodpecker chicks are fledging this week. At a nest in East Sussex today, we saw at least one chick being fed in the nest high in this Hornbeam tree & the adults feeding two more juveniles close by. Thanks to MA & RB for finding and showing @kenandlindasmith.bsky.social the nest

LesserSpotNet volunteers watching a LSW nest high in this Horbeam

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Fantastic news 19 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests found and being watched/monitored by our volunteers so far. Most have 4 chicks, well fed by the adults. Nests are so difficult to find & these are only a tiny proportion of the several thousand LSW pairs in Britain, but all very positive this year.

Three Lesser Spotted Woodpecker chicks in their nest cavity in a dead Oak tree

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Lovely footage showing both adult Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers bringing good food. Thanks for inviting us to visit this nest, our endoscope revealed 4 healthy chicks ready to fledge, - 3 male 1 female - crammed into the small nest cavity.

Four healthy Lesser Spotted Woodpecker chicks in the nest

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Now is your last chance to find a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nest. For the next week LSW young will be calling from the nest hole and you may hear them. So have a good search in your local woods. LesserSpotNet volunteers are already watching/monitoring twelve nests in the Midlands & South England.

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Exciting news from Wyre Forest NNR, we looked into 2 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nest cavities on 2 May with our endoscope. Female incubating 7 eggs in one (not all visible in photo) & 6 tiny chicks just hatched at 2nd nest. Both early so should do well. Thanks Natural England for showing us round.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker incubating 7 eggs in its nest cavity in a dead tree

Young Lesser Spotted Woodpecker chicks just hatched

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nesting now well advanced, pairs & nest excavations found by volunteers from Devon across to Sussex and North to Shropshire & East Anglia. Thanks everyone a great start. Lots more to be found & monitored for breeding success. (Photo by KB) www.woodpecker-network.org.uk

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at its nest in a tree

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Sadly 2024 was one of the poorest breeding seasons for Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers since we started in 2015. Only 11 nests were found/monitored & on average only just over one young fledged per nest. This is probably not enough to sustain the population, www.woodpecker-network.org.uk/index.php/news

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Male) at its nest in the Quantocks, photo by Ewan Flynn

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Lesser Spot Network @lesserspotnet.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Our article on the decline of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in Britain is in November's British Wildlife magazine. This update by Ken & Linda Smith outlines what more Woodpecker Network has learned about their conservation status & the prospects for this special species. www.woodpecker-network.org.uk

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