Experts help unlock the secrets of our smallest woodpecker

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Richard Jacobs, courtesy of The Woodpecker Network)

​Leading ornithologists from across the world met in Bangor last week as the University hosted the European Ornithologists Union conference. It is only the second time the UK has been the venue for the event, which is held in alternate years. Symposia were held on a range of topics, from the effects of artificial light and climate change to urban birds and migration.

The British Ornithologists’ Union organised a fascinating day devoted to woodland birds, of particular interest to the host nation, since Wales holds important numbers of the UK’s declining migratory species such as Pied Flycatcher and Wood Warbler, and cryptic birds such as Hawfinch. It was an opportunity to share notes and knowledge with researchers across Europe who study the same species, from the alpine woodlands of Switzerland to Białowieża on the Poland/Belarus border, one of the last and largest remaining primeval forests in Europe.

Of particular interest was the Woodpecker Network, set up by Ken and Linda Smith to co-ordinate and support studies of the three species that breed in Britain and Ireland. Their work on Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers is a superb example of citizen-science, which collects valuable data from cavity nests across their range in England and Wales. It is a species that has become hard to detect as numbers have crashed: the Welsh Bird Report has documented only around 10 confirmed records annually in recent years. The Network awards exclusive pin-badges to anyone who finds a ‘Lesser Spot’ nest, such is the skill and dedication required.

2025 has been an excellent year at Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests monitored, with the average number of chicks fledged bucking the long-term trend and more typical of continental Europe. Photos taken at nests show that parents were bringing in good quantities of aphids, an important part of their diet as chicks grow. The Network is testing the use of remote audio devices that constantly record sounds in a woodland, training computers to pick out calls and drumming. This may be an effective way of detecting Lesser Spotted Woodpecker early in the year, providing a way to survey their presence. That would help to answer the question whether they really have disappeared from most woodlands in North Wales.

Passage waders have dominated the local birding news. A White-rumped Sandpiper at Malltraeth Cob was the best find last week, the first ever in Anglesey. RSPB Conwy hosted Garganey, Wood Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank and Little Stint at the weekend, with Little Stints also at Gronant, Traeth y Gribin and, unusual inland, Aled Isaf Reservoir, Mynydd Hiraethog. Another Wood Sandpiper was at Malltraeth and RSPB Cors Ddyga, where six Cattle Egrets feed – appropriately – among grazing cows. A Spotted Redshank and two Spoonbills were at Gronant, the latter having earlier visited the Clwyd estuary in the company of a Black Tern. A Red-backed Shrike was a great discovery between Rhoscolyn and Trearddur Bay, while warm air brought migrant Clouded Yellow butterflies across the region.