The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, as its name suggests, is tiny compared to the Great Spotted Woodpecker. It is the smallest European woodpecker and can be hard to see as it creeps about in the tops of tall trees hunting for food. Most Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are found in southern Britain.
The Sparrow-sized male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker has a crimson crown, a brown forehead, broad barring on the wings and narrower bars across the black lower back. The underparts are white. The female is similar but lacks the red crown. Their call is a loud, shrill "keek" and a vibrating rattle, and their 'drumming' is much quieter, less vigorous, and more evenly paced than that of the Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Like Great Spotted Woodpeckers, they feed on insects by drilling or chipping away rotten wood to find them, then grabbing them with their long tongue.
Each year, they make a new nesting hole in a tree high above the ground. In May, mum lays 5-8 eggs and both parents incubate them for 2 weeks with dad usually doing the nightshift. The youngsters are fed with insects, such as aphids and larvae, until they fledge 3 weeks later. There is usually only one brood.
Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are mostly resident, seldom wandering far from their nest sites. Numbers can fall in harsh winters. There are about 1,000 in Britain and their main threat is the removal of dead trees that they need for nesting.
Their Latin name is 'dryobates minor' where 'dryobates' is from the Ancient Greek 'druos' meaning 'woodland' and 'bates' meaning 'walker' and 'minor' is Latin for 'smaller'. The English name pretty much sums them up. A tiny spotted Woodpecker. Another name is the 'Barred Woodpecker' from the narrow white bars across their back.