Lesser Spotted Woodpecker: distribution and range

Europe’s smallest woodpecker is quite widespread and often fairly common locally, in the right habitat, across Europe. It is, however, easily overlooked due to its size and tendency to forage in the canopy, and thus its exact distribution remains somewhat unclear. Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are found from Iberia and the UK (but not Ireland and Scotland) eastwards across the continent into Siberia and Asia as far as Kamchatka and Japan. To the south it extends just into North Africa (Tunisia and Algeria) and northwards ranges as far as the Arctic tundra zone. It is absent from most Mediterranean islands, though a small isolated population may exist on Sardinia. In Greece it does not breed on any islands, but on the mainland it is fairly widespread though scarce, occurring up to 1600 m (on Mount Olympos) but mostly below 1000m. In Slovakia it is rather widespread below 800 m but nowhere common, occurring at low densities. Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers can, in fact, be common locally, given the right woodland conditions. In Britain Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is the most thinly distributed of the three resident woodpecker species. They reach as far north as the borders, but not into Scotland proper. The difficulties in mapping the distribution of this diminutive and often illusive species can be judged by the fact that it is one of the few birds in Britain that does not have a precise range and population estimate.