Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Habitat: Rich mixed deciduous forests, parks and riverine forests. The trees should preferably contain many rotten branches.

Appearance: The smallest European woodpecker is easy to overlook. Although it breeds throughout Western Europe, it is not very common anywhere and its population has declined in many areas. In Belgium and the Netherlands, it is a fairly scarce to fairly numerous breeding bird, a year bird and a winter visitor in fairly large numbers.

Breeding season: April to July, cavity nester – the partners build a new nest cavity with a 32 mm diameter entrance hole for each brood. This is located low or high in a rotten trunk. Various cavity nesters often fight fiercely for such a small nesting cavity, 5 to 7 eggs.

Food: The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is not a diligent woodcutter or carpenter. It prefers to search for food in the tops of trees or thin twigs, which the larger woodpecker species hardly ever visit. It mainly collects aphids from the bark, and ants also form an important part of its diet. Despite its small size, it needs a large feeding territory.