LesserSpot Network

Delighted to locate and observe a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers interacting in central Essex this morning (with @HawkwellBirder). Hopefully they will have another successful breeding season. @EssexBirdNews @lesserspotnet

@BrentwoodBirder @HawkwellBirder @EssexBirdNews Thanks, excellent news. Yes, here's hoping for another successful LSW breeding season in 2026.

And yesterday's great session of ringing/banding in Hungary continued, for example, here is a Middle Spotted Woodpecker

What a beautiful bird, it is only when you see a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in the hand that you appreciate how tiny they are. Great work by Gerard and the Hungarian team.

@RobHolmes77 Brilliant, it is always so good to see the Lesser Spot display flight and good to know LSW still present in the Brecks

A Major D Minor day. Wonderful to watch this male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker performing its butterfly-like display flight on a beautiful frosty morning in The Brecks.

What a weekend! It was a privilege for Kent to host 2026 @lesserspotnet workshop in the Blean! Interesting discussions had between different regions, good connections made, exciting things ahead. Some Lesser Spots didn’t go a miss either @KentishPlover @ukrbbp

@Hypatiakitten @RobinSmithNR21 @GibsonTomgibo Thomas, thank you for this. The BTO Acoustic Pipeline LSW module was developed with LesserSpotNet help & we are providing support. Email us on info@woodpecker-network.org.uk we can arrange for you to send the false positive parakeet sound clips to train the software to do better

@RobinSmithNR21 @GibsonTomgibo @_BTO @lesserspotnet

Does anyone know if the @_BTO Acoustic Pipeline has a way to report false positives? Basically all of my detections of Lesser Spot calls away from known habitats so far are in fact parakeets 😥 and there isn't an obvious way to mark them as bad data.

@GibsonTomgibo @_BTO Sorry I mis-typed our email address in our first response, now corrected to info@woodpecker-network.org.uk contact us with any queries on the woodpecker module on BTO acoustic pipeline

@GibsonTomgibo @_BTO Thomas, thank you for this. The BTO Acoustic Pipeline LSW module was developed with LesserSpotNet help & we are providing support. Email us on info@woodpecker-network.org.uk we can arrange for you to send the false positive parakeet sound clips to train the software to do better

Great L/S Woodpecker conference at Wildwood, Blean. Fantastic work being done to improve knowledge of numbers/distribution of this great little bird, by wonderfully impassioned folk👏 Kent’s a UK stronghold - early risers had LSWs before conference! @lesserspotnet @bto @ukrbbp

And these, too!

Stunning morning in my local woods. The Lesser spots were active all morning including at noon this amazing display of wing flicking and wryneck posturing plus an unfamiliar guttural call. @lesserspotnet

@BenendenKent Wow, really stunning photos, thanks. It is such a privilege to see Lesser Spots displaying.

And we’re off! With conditions less than favourable so far, it was good to get out to the Blean. Between 5-6 birds, including drumming and two territorial females ‘chittering’ started the LSW season off nicely @lesserspotnet

A dawn visit to the Wyre Forest with @Kfordnature eventually gave fantastic views of a pair of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

@TimDYo Hi Tim, your bird is a Great Spotted Woodpecker. The distinguishing features are the red patch under the tail and the distinct white patch on each 'shoulder'. It is still a nice bird though.

@lesserspotnet is this one?

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, thanks everyone woodpecker-network.org.uk/images/L_S_W_N…

@toby_wildlife @HerefordshireWT @HerefsBirds Well done Toby, your Countryfile segment was excellent and informative, what a lovely location for Lesser Spots

You can now check out my Countryfile slot on iplayer, and see me in talk about the ecology of trad orchards and delve into the fascinating world of Britains most mysterious breeding bird: the lesser spotted woodpecker @lesserspotnet @HerefordshireWT @HerefsBirds

@britwildlife Well obviously our favourite British Wildlife cover is number 2 (Nov 2024) - featuring a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - it also includes our article on LSW.

With the October issue on its way we're about to start a new volume of British Wildlife. Which was your favourite cover from volume 36?