Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dryobates minor)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > bird > Bird |
| Red List Status: | Endangered (Breeding) [EN(br)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | Dendrocopos minor subsp. comminutus, Dryobates minor comminutus |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Dryobates minor |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Linnaeus, 1758) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Stanbury et al., 2021 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | in s41 as Dendrocopos minor subsp. comminutus. TVK is for the species but note D. m. comminutus is the British subsp. |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Declining and range contraction, now not covered by BBS |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Continued solution testing needed |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | LSW would need to increase the area of open woodland at a landscape scale. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 6. Recovery solutions trialled |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Unknown |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - insufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Roll out bespoke species monitoring methodology as a national survey.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: New Forest, Blean Woods
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Investigate what the key features of stable populations (e.g. New Forest) and whether these could be transferrable to other sites, such as investigating the role of wetness in woodlands.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: New Forest
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Further investigate food supply impacts on breeding success and quantify role of trophic mismatch, as well as trailing solutions that may mitigate this.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: Unknown
High priority sites:
Comments:
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.