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Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in 2019
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (female)
Great Spotted Woodpecker © Tom Speller
Green Woodpeckers © Andrew Moon
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Latest news
Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers: 2023 report
Lesser Spot young (3 male chicks) in a nest Somerset 2023 - photo Gus RobinWoodpecker Network Breeding Season Report
Thanks to the efforts of all our LesserSpotNet collaborators we were able to collect breeding data from 21 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests in 2023.
It was a very mixed breeding season but, overall, the number of young fledged was 2.4 young per nest, pretty much in line with the long term average.
The nests monitored in 2023 were from nine counties with most in Hampshire and Somerset. Thanks to a dedicated team in the New Forest, Hampshire continues to be the key county. In Somerset concerted efforts by a small team led by Gus Robin resulted in five nests being found, doubling the county total since 2015. It was great news that a nest was found in Essex at a site with regular records of drumming and calling birds – the first nest monitored in Essex since the project started in 2015.
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests update May 2023
An interestingly different Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nesting season so far. The birds were active as usual in early spring but many seem to have delayed egg laying, perhaps due to the cold weather in April.
Two nests have almost the latest 'first egg dates' in our data set, 15th May. In previous years the birds have started laying on about 28th April
LesserSpotNet volunteers are watching 12 nests, and we expect more to be found now that adults are starting to feed the young and become more visible again.