Orchard Network

Many bird species use orchards, including tits, thrushes, owls, flycatchers and woodpeckers. Britain’s smallest and rarest woodpecker, the lesser spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos minor), another UK BAP species, relies on old trees with decaying wood to provide nesting sites. Deadwood is also important during the winter months, when the woodpecker excavates beetle larvae and adults from the smaller diameter branches high up in the tree canopy.

This elusive bird has undergone a rapid population decline since the 1970s, primarily, it is thought, due to the loss of dead and decaying wood habitats, habitat fragmentation and changes in the availability of food.  

Habitat Management:

Ensure the presence of deadwood for nesting and winter foraging including the creation of standing deadwood habitat.

National Links

RSPB - More information including a recording of the LSW call

Downloads

Herefordshire Biodiversity Partnership - survey form for the Woodpeckers of herefordshire Project. Also contains a useful ID guide to woodpeckers.

Image: Simon Deans