GusRobin
@blackdownbirder
http://angusrobin.bsky.social @lesserspotnet SW coordinator and birder living in Taunton, Somerset.
Fabulous Easter morning on the Quantocks moving the acoustic recorders for @lesserspotnet and 10yr old found a GSW hole being excavated. Celebratory milkshakes at The Rocking Horse cafe, Stogumber. M&F Pied fly seen entering a box too. @quantockhills
A big loop walk on the Quantocks this morning with all 3 woodpeckers and a Combe House Hotel coffee & cake reward card. Splendid!
Quick nip up Ingleborough on a short Yorkshire trip to see friends. Singing Wheatear on the slope up and then a Barn Owl near Clapham. Yorkshire three peaks finally completed after 12 years since I did the first one - must be some kind of record!
Three LSW were heard (one seen) on an @somersetbirds Quantock walk today, looking for signs and holes of woodpeckers. Sadly no LSW encounters yesterday on the same route. Thanks to folk who braved the hills and I hope we find more territories and nests this year @lesserspotnet
A scene from Bialowieża Forest early this week: a pair of LSW both male and female drumming. The next six weeks is the time to find them in the uk, early on clear still mornings. @wildlifeguidePL @lesserspotnet @somersetbirds @DevonBirds
A terrible pic of a pair of Three-toed woodpeckers, but a nice record of a day with White-backed, Lesser, Middle, Great, Black and Grey-headed to boot! Oliwier @wildlifeguidePL is a brilliant guide to have in the Bialowieża Forest, Poland.
It’s a great time to look out for woodpeckers! Learn which woodpecker is drumming, which feeds on the ground and which is small enough to feed at the very end of tiny branches. Watch my new animated woodpecker guide here youtu.be/GEQBrT-587Q?fe… @_BTO @lesserspotnet
All three woodpeckers heard on the Quantocks this morning @somersetbirds
This is a LSW nest chamber from last year which has come down in the Winter, seen on a Quantock walk this morning @lesserspotnet
Cold walk on the Quantocks this morning with @EHFwildlife. Cleaned out Hodders Combe Pied Fly boxes and Ewan found another possible LSW nest hole - another place to keep an eye on in ‘25. @lesserspotnet @somersetbirds
Exploring Essex woods near Little Baddow/Danbury. Pairs of Great and Green wdpkr chasing and calling. A few Redpoll in birch tops of Pheasanthouse Wood and fairly sure heard a couple Hawfinch over, but didn’t see them @EBwSTweets
Trees down just West of Porlock on @ExmoorNP coast path. Very happy to find signs of LSW possibly nesting in the Exmoor coastal woods between Porlock and Culbone @lesserspotnet
Our article on the decline of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in Britain is in November's British Wildlife magazine @BritWildlife This update by Ken & Linda Smith outlines what more Woodpecker Network has learned about their conservation status & the prospects for this special species
Along with many others, I’m on Bluesky too: angusrobin.bsky.social
Somerset ornithological society AGM is this Sat afternoon, from 1.30 pm at Cheddon Fitzpaine hall. I’ll be talking about Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers on the Quantocks, tips to help find them and monitoring this declining species @lesserspotnet @somersetbirds @bto_somerset1
