Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 2026 breeding season report
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Woodpecker Network’s core activity is locating and recording the outcomes of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests. 2026 was a record year. With more people in different areas getting involved a total 28 nests were monitored plus three sites where recently fledged young indicated that there had been a nest nearby.
With this year’s nests we have now monitored just over 200 nests since we started Woodpecker Network in 2015 – quite a milestone. Read on for our full 2026 Report.
Congratulations Rufus
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Congratulations to Rufus Dawson, for this well-deserved BTO Award for Young Ornithologist of the Year 2026. Rufus is an active Woodpecker Network volunteer and his Passive Acoustic Monitoring for Lesser Spots in Gloucestershire and Avon is contributing greatly to our understanding of this elusive species. Read more on his BlueSky feed @rufusdawson.bsky.social
Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers June 2026 update
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Thanks to the brilliant support of Woodpecker Network volunteers, 2026 has been another remarkable year for the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (LSW) studies. In the year so far ...
Countryfile feature on Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers
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BBC Countryfile on Sunday 21 June on BBC One at 7:15 featured Woodpecker Network volunteers, Ken and Linda Smith in the New Forest talking about and looking for Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and visiting a nest.
You can watch on iPlayer https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002y4fm/countryfile-hampshires-secret-wild-side and the episode will be repeated on BBC 2 on Sunday 28 June at 8:00am and Tuesday 30st June at 01:35
Lesser Spot nesting update May 2026
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From now until early June is the time to look for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests. Adults are actively feeding their young, so become more detectable. Our volunteers have located 11 potential nest sites so far and we have the number of eggs or young for 4 nests.
We are optimistic for this nesting season. Good breeding success in 2025 and sustained efforts with passive sound recorders this spring have identified LSW in many more woodlands than previously thought.
LesserSpotNet volunteers have identified potential nests in Devon, Somerset, the New Forest, Sussex, Kent, the Home Counties, Norfolk, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.