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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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

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

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