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.
We hope everyone has managed to stay safe over the last year. It has been challenging for us all but we have made some progress with Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in spite of the restrictions on all our activities. We are sure we are not alone in thinking that it has been a joy to be able to continue our work on birds and other wildlife even if we have been largely restricted to our local patch.
Lesser Spots are active in March, calling and drumming and setting up their breeding territories. So now is the best time to find them. If you are fortunate enough to find a Lesser Spot, please follow the birds through the breeding season if you can and let us have the details. View or download our guide to finding and monitoring nests.
For the breeding season last year, the lockdowns were lifted for most of us in May – just in time for volunteers to get out and find LSW nests with young. A total of 13 nests were reported to us in 2020 most being found during chick rearing: Hampshire (8), Kent (2), East Sussex (1), Norfolk (2).
Read or download the full 2020 report here
Huge thanks to all the volunteers who contributed sightings of Lesser Spots and information about breeding locations. Special thanks to those of you who found and recorded nests and allowed us to visit with the nest inspection camera. To all the volunteers who searched in vain for those elusive Lessers last year, please try again in 2021.
