BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER
Dendrocopos minor

Conservation listings

Europe: no SPEC category (favourable conservation status in Europe, not concentrated in Europe)
UK: red (>50% population decline)

Long-term trend

UK: rapid decline

Distribution maps

Maps and statistics from British and Irish
atlases can be viewed here.

Status summary

The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker has declined significantly and very rapidly since around 1980, following a shallower increase, and had contracted markedly in range by 1988-91(Gibbons et al. 1993). It now qualifies for red listing, but has become so rare in recent years that BBS has been unable to collect enough data for annual monitoring. Reductions in the area of mature broadleaved woodland, losses of non-woodland trees such as elms, increases in woodland isolation and reductions in the volume of dead wood in woodland are candidate causes for the decline (Fulleret al. 2005).

Table of population changes for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Source Period
(yrs) Years Plots
(n) Change
(%) Lower
limit Upper
limit Alert Comment

CBC all habitats 31 1968-1999 17 -60 -81 40 Small sample

25 1974-1999 18 -73 -86 -31 >50 Small sample

10 1989-1999 11 -51 -75 -22 >50 Small sample

5 1994-1999 9 -33 -56 0 Small sample

Productivity information is not currently available for this species


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This report should be cited as: Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Crick, H.Q.P., Noble, D.G., Balmer, D.E., Beaven, L.P., Coombes, R.H., Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. and Thewlis, R.M. (2005) Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2004. BTO Research Report No. 385. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends) Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 18 January, 2006