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Woodpecker Network Found and Monitored 29 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Nests in 2026

Lesser spotted woodpecker at a nest cavity
Conservation · Population & status

Volunteers with the Woodpecker Network had found and monitored 29 lesser spotted woodpecker (Dryobates minor) nests by 21 June 2026, the highest annual total since the project began in 2015. The same season also brought a large expansion of passive acoustic monitoring across England and Wales.

Recorders found birds at additional project sites

Passive acoustic monitoring uses unattended sound recorders to capture calls and drumming, so birds can be detected even when an observer is not present at the moment they vocalise. After successful use of the method in 2025, the network expanded recording coverage across Wales and numerous English counties in 2026.

The project reported detections at established sites and at many sites where lesser spotted woodpeckers had not previously been recorded by the network. The update therefore shows how acoustic monitoring was adding new occurrence records to the project’s direct field observations.

Twenty-nine nests were monitored, but the season was not yet complete

During the breeding season, volunteers found and monitored 29 nests — the highest annual total reported by the project since monitoring began in 2015. Complete breeding results had not yet been collated when the 21 June update was published, so the network did not provide a final productivity estimate.

The preliminary results were nevertheless described as positive. The project reported generally good fledging numbers among nests monitored so far, including six young fledged from one nest in the Home Counties and five from one in Kent, alongside a few nest failures.

The 2026 work continues a long-running volunteer monitoring programme that combines searches for nests, recording of breeding outcomes and acoustic detection. The two approaches provide different information: sound recorders help locate where the species is present, while nest monitoring follows what happens during breeding. The full 2026 breeding-season report was still to come when this update was published.

Sources and image credit

  1. Woodpecker Network. (2026, June 21). Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers June 2026 update.Primary 2026 project update. Volunteers had found and monitored 29 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests, the highest annual total since the project began in 2015. Expanded passive acoustic monitoring detected the species at known sites and at additional sites where the project had not previously recorded it. Full breeding-season results were still being collated.

Image: Andrey Gulivanov / Wikimedia Commons / Flickr — lesser spotted woodpecker (Dryobates minor) at a nest cavity, photographed 10 June 2024; representative nest image, not a bird from the British monitoring project · CC BY 2.0 · Source

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