Last week saw the first reported sightings of Ospreys back in the UK, therefore it’s only a matter of time before we start to see birds passing back through Poole Harbour.

With it being such a crucial and exciting time for the project, this year we’ll be posting video updates from the project, giving you more insight into what we’re up to, whats happening with Osprey activity and of course info on any nesting attempts we may encounter!

We’ll be covering topics such as the new nest cam, nest protection, Osprey activity in the harbour, Osprey migration and more! So, with Spring now well underway, here’s our first video to kick off the season: Enjoy!

We were treated to an early Christmas present on December 24th 2019, with the first sighting of one of our newly-released Ospreys seen at Gunjur Quarry in the Gambia. Since then, the same individual, ringed 019, has been reported twice in the same location, on January 19th and February 29th.

After their first migration, young Ospreys spend much of the winter roaming large distances to find an ideal over-wintering site. Gunjur Quarry is very suitable for Ospreys, often supporting 30-40 individuals at a time. 019 was first reported there by Joanna Dailey with her local guide Fansu Bojang. Since then Chris Wood, who has spent a lot of time near the site, has seen her on 2 occasions.

019 – Chris Wood

This could suggest that 019 is settling in at Gunjur Quarry, which is promising as we know it is well-monitored and perfect for supporting Ospreys. During the project last year, 019 was the smallest individual to be translocated, the last to fly, and the last to leave on migration. Evidently, her slower development has not impacted her survival instincts, and she can be seen looking very healthy in the most recent photo we have been sent by Chris Wood.

This is very exciting news, especially as we enter UK Osprey season in the next few weeks. Will she be reported there again and will we have reports of any other translocated juveniles in their wintering grounds? We need to be on the lookout for any returnees so keep your eyes on the skies, and stay updated about local Osprey information with our blogs.

Now over halfway through the project, we will start to see the impact of our hard work, and hopefully be closer to our aim of restoring a breeding population of Ospreys to the South Coast.

We’ve got another busy translocation season ahead and will be releasing a new cohort of juvenile Ospreys from Scotland, with up to 12 individuals. Over Christmas, we received fantastic news affirming the success of our 2019 season, which was a sighting of recently released juvenile 019 in The Gambia. This sighting was reported by Joanna Dailey who sent us some beautiful photos of 019 looking healthy and in her element at Gunjur Quarry, some 3,500 miles away (see photo). She’s now been seen there on two occasions, most recently on the 19^th of January, reported by the team from the Osprey Leadership Foundation. The translocation work will start again in the summer, but before then we will have plenty to be getting on with…

We’ve been working hard over the winter to plan for this season and to fundraise for our project developments, including the much-anticipated Osprey nest webcam! Last year, the project saw the first signs of success when 2-year-old translocated male, LS7, returned to the harbour in June. By a stroke of fate, he met a Rutland-born female, CJ7, who has been summering in the harbour since 2017, and the pair quickly began bonding and nest-building on platforms around the harbour. The response to this story and to our fundraising campaign has been incredible, meaning that we will be able to stream live Osprey updates online, should we be so lucky as to have nesting birds. Although nothing can be guaranteed this season, including both of their return, we have our suspicions of their preferred nesting site, and so will be installing the webcam on that nest over the next month or so. We are hosting another fundraising cruise, sponsored by Osprey Europe, on the 10^th of May for the campaign, so come join us during the Osprey season as we explore the harbour.

Adding to the anticipation for the Osprey season, is the increased likelihood of returnee adults. Last summer, we saw LS7 and CJ7 pair-bonding in the harbour, but this year they could be joined by others. Ospreys will typically first return to the UK aged between 2-3 years, which means we could see new individuals both from year 1 and 2 of the translocation project. We also may see individuals like Beaky, a female who has spent a lot of time in the harbour last year during spring and autumn, return and potentially summer in the area.

For now, we can sit tight and wait for the next 2 months to pass, keeping our fingers crossed for another successful season!

TO DONATE TO OUR JUST GIVING PAGE CLICK HERE

The Osprey reintroduction project aims to restore a breeding population of this charismatic bird of prey to the South Coast, led by Birds of Poole Harbour, the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Wildlife Windows. Ospreys were present throughout the UK 200 years ago, until they were driven to extinction through persecution and egg collecting. Fortunately, they naturally recolonised Scotland in the mid 1900s, but help has been needed to bring them back to England and Wales. Following the success of a reintroduction project in Rutland in 1996, which has since led to the colonisation of Wales, the Ospreys are having a helping hand in spreading their population once again through this reintroduction project in Poole Harbour.

We are now in the third year of the 5-year project, which started in 2017. During this time, we have permission to collect up to 60 chicks from Scottish nests, provided by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation. The chicks are then raised and released near Poole Harbour, and will leave for wintering migration within 3 months. They typically winter in West Africa and will return to the UK in a few years time, once they are mature and ready to breed themselves. We are just over halfway through and have had our first Osprey return from 2017 this year (LS7), a fantastic achievement as the migration routes are treacherous. He has been fortunate enough to find a female (CJ7) this year a success story from the Rutland project being offspring from one of those now natural nests in the Midlands. We are hopeful that in the next few years we will have the first breeding pair of Ospreys in nearly two centuries, and we want to be able to reach and engage with as many people as possible about this exciting achievement. One way in which we are planning to do this is through having a camera attached to the nest to live-stream the season next year – a successful engagement tool used at many Osprey breeding sites in the UK. We have been using motion-sensitive cameras on the artificial nests around the harbour, which take fantastic photos when birds land on the nests, as seen in the cover photo of LS7 and CJ7. These cameras give us great insight into which nests the birds are favouring, but a live-stream camera would give us a whole new perspective and mean that people can watch from their own home too. We are fundraising to buy and install this live-stream camera, as well as erecting new nests and developing infrastructure for the Osprey Project over the next few years. Your donations will go a long way in contributing to the restoration of breeding Ospreys and engaging people with these incredible birds on the south coast.

LS7 and CJ7 on artificial nest platform

June and July were busy prepping for the arrival of this year’s Osprey chicks, brought down from Scotland by our project partners, the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation. It was the start of the third season of the project and would eventually mark the halfway point once the birds were released in early August. Following the hardships of last year where some of the chicks died due to a vitamin deficiency and heatwave affecting the younger birds, we decided to do an overhaul of the process to ensure that it would not happen again. With this in mind we made many changes, including an increase in staff working on the project, adjusting the pen design and monitoring systems, changing the release site and fish supply, and, most significantly, increasing the age of the birds that were brought down to Poole. A change in release site meant there was lots to do in preparation, but everything was ready in place for their eventual arrival on July 15th.

Over the course of the 5-year project, we have permission to receive up to 60 chicks from Scottish nests. This year, we had 11 feisty juveniles arrive, all stronger than in previous years due to their older age. On the morning of their arrival the birds settled well into the pens, and we had some of them wing flapping within the first hour! By the end of day, 3 of the chicks (017, 022 and 025) were even making short flights within the pens. It was a great sign of the success to come this season.

The juveniles stayed in the pens for the next 3 weeks, with the dedicated staff and volunteer team monitoring their behaviour and health, as well as preparing plenty of fish (c450kg to be precise) to ensure their growth before release. This summer wasn’t as hot as 2018, but there were a few days of heat where we took extra precautions to cool the birds and made sure there was a fresh fish supply to avoid the food from drying out.

While they were in the pens the birds developed well and showed ever-increasing strength so that by the time of the releases, they were ready and raring to go. The releases took place in early August when all the birds had successfully made short flights, and many had been carrying fish to perches within the pens. Earlier that week the birds were radio tagged by Roy Dennis, Tim Mackrill and Jason Fathers, which ran smoothly. This tagging is a vital part of the translocation, which meant that the Ospreys could be released safely, and we would be able to track them.

Juveniles in flight – Alison Copland

We released the birds over 3 days, with 021 and 023 leaving on the first morning and showing off their strong flying skills immediately. After early starts with the pens being opened at 5:30, the following days showed the new release site to be an excellent choice, as the birds made the most of the surrounding habitat and stayed close to the site for most of the season. We spent August then tracking the birds via their radio tags and were pleased to see them venture towards and around the harbour as September drew near, including views from one of our BoPH Osprey cruises!

The birds took us by surprise in that we only had them on the release site for a further 4 weeks before they left on migration. Rather than a staggered departure of the birds leaving, the final 6 all left on the same day, and by the 6th of September, we were left with empty nests! During the week of migrations, we were met with mixed feelings as, unfortunately, 025 was found by the team on the release site having been predated. This was particularly sad to discover as 025 was in prime condition for migration and was likely to have left over the following days. Predation is a natural threat to Ospreys, whether they are from natural nests or reintroductions, but nevertheless it was disappointing for the team. However, it was great to know that the other birds would have also been in fantastic conditions when they left, and we gave them the best start possible for their migrations. Let’s hope we see them back in 2021…

Looking ahead, we are really excited for next year as we could potentially have natural nesting attempt. We will therefore be fundraising throughout the winter and spring before they arrive back to provide a live-stream camera on the nest that LS7 and CJ7 have been favouring. This means that you will be able to view their progress from home if they nest next year! We have launched a Just Giving page in aid of the Osprey Project, including the live-stream camera and other project developments which you can donate to here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/harbourospreys

We will keep you up to date with our continued work on the Osprey Project throughout the rest of the year and keep our fingers and toes crossed for next year!

As many of you will know, this year we entered the third year of our Poole Harbour Osprey translocation project. With our first returning bird (male LS7) from 2017 arriving back this summer we’re already beginning to see the fruits of our labour. However, until recently there was still three years of translocation to carry out. Well, we’re glad to announce that on July 15th this year, the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation arrived here in Poole with eleven big, healthy Osprey chicks for our 2019 project, which were received by our Birds of Poole Harbour Osprey team here in Poole who began the long and dedicated process of raising these youngsters.

After three long weeks and A LOT of fish pepping, we’re thrilled to announce that all eleven fledged successfully this past weekend and have been happily settling into their new surroundings with lots of active flying, calling, playing and generally getting up to mischief. The hard work is by no-means over as it’s now our role to keep a track of these birds as they begin to build in confidence and eventually begin to explore the wider harbour in a few weeks’ time.

It’s possible that when they begin venturing towards the harbour, they may settle on some of the harbour nest platforms such as Middlebere, so please be on the lookout for ring numbers 015 – 025, blue ring on right leg.

This is such exciting news that we thought you’d like to see some footage of two of the class of 2019 feeding on one of the feed platforms just after they’d been released. In fact, it was so exciting that would you believe it, only hours after releasing the first couple of birds, guess who turned up…..yep……CJ7. She has now been with the chicks every day since, and today even tried stealing fish from one of them on one of our feeding nests!

Thanks everyone for all your generous support and kind words over the year. Next spring could be incredibly exciting which makes all this hard work and constant fish smell so worth it.

We’ll post a full blog in due course, but we’re currently trying to keep track of eleven delinquent Osprey chicks, so in the meantime, enjoy the video!

We’re now also entering the third year of our Poole Harbour translocation project, so we thought as a prequel to this year’s project we’d do a full overview of what’s been so far, what’s what now, and what’s to happen later in the season.

For 2019 it all began on March 21st when the harbour’s first Osprey of the season arrived into the harbour. Over the following few days it was seen again briefly between Middlebere and the Wareham Channel before disappearing on March 24th. A few days later another Osprey was seen staging in the harbour for only a matter in minutes, arriving in from high south before settling down on Arne for a few minutes and then taking off high north again…just amazing to watch.

This winter we also deployed several new SMS motion sensitive cameras on some of the new nesting platforms that were erected around the harbour, and as each day passed in late March our excitement grew in the hope that an Osprey would land on one soon. As time went by Starlings, Jackdaws, Blackbird and even a Wheatear all triggered our camera, but then on April 1st we received a photo that would put a huge smile across our faces. It was the safe return of CJ7, the now 4-year old female originally from Rutland that semi-adopted our released chicks back in 2017 as she was passing through on migration. CJ7 also spent the whole of the late Spring and all summer in Poole Harbour during 2018, before again, adopting our released chicks last August. There’s no doubt that the driving force behind her now regular returns to Poole Harbour are the encounters she had with our released Osprey chicks each year, making her think this is a productive site and there could be other suitable males in the area. Her safe return this spring was a good sign, because it was also the year we could possibly see one or two of our own 2017 birds arrive back for the first time.

CJ7 Returning to Poole Harbour on April 1st

As April progressed CJ7 spent most days on several of the nesting platforms dotted around the harbour, regularly triggering our camera traps, which allowed us to see what she was up to on the nests. Then, in mid-April, we couldn’t believe what we were seeing. CJ7 spent each morning (6am-9am) bringing huge clumps of moss and large sticks to the Middlebere nest, indicating that she had a real drive to breed this summer. This was a hugely encouraging sign, but as it’s usually the males that establish the territories and there are currently no males that call Poole Harbour home then it was unlikely she was going to get lucky this spring. Day after day she would nest build and then spend time looking patiently out to sea, hoping, waiting for a male to arrive on her doorstep, which sadly….he never did. Despite the lack of males, CJ7 still had plenty of company during late April and early May with arrivals of several other females on our nest platforms including blue-ringed PA1, originally ringed near Loch Lomond. Also blue-ring AX8 originally from near Inverness, and an absolute beast of a bird that didn’t have a ring on but we nicknamed her ‘Beaky’ because of her huge bill, that spent a week on the Middlebere nest devouring huge Mullet and Bass twice a day, every day! Separate to Ospreys we saw on our nest platforms, there were also plenty of others that were logged on their migrations north with other birds seen in Lytchett Bay, Wareham Forest, Holton Lee and around the Wareham Channel. With so many sightings during March, April and May it would be safe to say this was one of the best ‘Osprey Springs’ we’ve ever experienced in Poole Harbour.

‘Beaky’ stayed on the Middlebere nest for a week in May

As May rolled into June, and CJ7’s breeding urge depleted, she rarely visited nesting platforms and was only ever seen occasionally flying around the Arne peninsular. All other breeding birds across the UK were now back on breeding grounds so Osprey activity (as expected) dropped off completely. June lazily lumbered on, but we were still on high alert for any reports of ‘new’ Osprey being encountered around the harbour, because we were now in prime time for a two-year old to arrive. Then, on June 12th at 11am, just as we’d finished presenting a talk to our volunteer team about our work as a charity, I received an update from one of our motion sensitive cameras which showed TWO Osprey on one of our nest platforms. A quick dash to the location and a scan of the sky found an Osprey circling high over the Wareham Channel, which we then tried to track down for the whole day. Several times we were close to being able to read the ring number but agonisingly we were just too far away each time. As time passed, we thought we’d never get the number, however a bit of luck and an ease in the rain allowed us to finally get a good look at the leg which allowed us to see the letters ‘LS…?”. Regardless of the number which we couldn’t quite see, the fact we could see LS was all that mattered, as this was one of our boys from the 2017 release. AMAZING!

Since his arrival on June 12th, LS7 has really made himself at home, re-familiarising himself with the local area, and visiting several of our nest platforms. What’s even more interesting is that he seems to have taken a shine to CJ7 who hasn’t left his side since he arrived. The new happy couple have been seen together at numerous sites around the harbour including several of the nest platforms for long periods of time. Although it’s too late for breeding this year, and the fact he’s probably ‘not quite ready’, this interaction really bodes well for next year, just so long as they both have safe migrations this autumn and next spring.

Summer and Autumn 2019

We’re now currently entering the third year of five on our translocation project and at the time of writing we’re busy prepping for the next batch of Osprey chicks to arrive from Scotland in mid-July. With last year’s hardship where some of our chicks died due to a nutrient deficiency brought on by the heat wave, we’ve implemented a whole range of changes to mitigate against the same from happening again, ranging from finding a new release site, employing a larger team, varying the food supply, re-designing the pens, re-analysing our food prep and cleaning procedures. The safe arrival of LS7 and CJ7 has provided the boost the project needed, and the mindset for this summer’s translocation is a really positive one. With this in mind, as a team we need to remain focused on the job in hand so have decided that the translocation work this summer will be carried out by a small dedicated team that will focus on nothing else other than care of the young birds. This means that updates during the raise and release phase will be limited so the team can just focus purely on caring for the birds. Once all of the birds are released and we’re happy each is flying well and safely we’ll then begin providing more updates. With the way things are going, there will be so much going on with other Osprey activity around the harbour that you’ll no doubt be able to quench your Osprey thirst this summer and autumn in the meantime.

Each year we always thank everyone for their support and each year you show us kindness and encouragement in return. The developments this summer with LS7’s return really now make it possible for breeding to take place somewhere in Southern Britain next spring which is the whole objective of the project. When we started three years ago that dream always seemed so far away, but now feels like it could just be around the corner.

From all of us here at BoPH we look forward to an exciting summer and autumn ahead and will update you with progress at suitable times during the course of the project this year.

This is the first Osprey to return to Poole harbour from the project, which aims to re-establish a south coast breeding population of this majestic bird of prey. The charity leading on the project, Birds of Poole Harbour were alerted to the birds presence when they received a photo on June 12th from one of their static SMS camera traps which was deployed out in the south of the harbour, indicating that a new blue-ringed Osprey was about.  The team then spent the day looking for the bird so they could read the leg ring to confirm its ID. The charity is now hoping that with the return of this male Osprey, breeding may take place in Poole Harbour as early as 2020 or 2021.

Osprey are a large, fish eating bird of prey that was once widespread across the whole of Western Europe. However, populations were persecuted to extinction through the 18th and 19th century and they sadly never recovered in England.

The Birds of Poole Harbour charity, in partnership with the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Wildlife Windows began the project in 2017 by bringing 8 Osprey chicks down to Poole Harbour from Scotland where populations are doing better. The team then reared and released the Osprey chicks into the harbour where they then spent several more weeks familiarising themselves with the local area before naturally migrating down to West Africa for the winter

Birds of Poole Harbour co-founder Paul Morton stated:

“This is such exciting news; we can’t believe we’ve actually got one of our chicks back. This is the big next step in seeing Osprey colonise the south coast once more after an absence of around 180 years. When they left the harbour on migration back in 2017, their fate is completely out of our hands, so to know this bird is safe and well having not seen him for two years is just the best feeling”

Ospreys don’t reach sexual maturity until at least 3-4 years old, so there won’t be any immediate success to the project this year. However, his presence in the harbour has already drawn the attention of a female who has been present since April 1st and the two seem to have already shown signs of interest in one another.

Paul Morton added:

“There’s still a long way to go with this project as we’ll be bringing the next batch of Osprey chicks down from Scotland this summer, and more in 2020 and 2021. The support we received from the local community has been incredible, we can already feel the excitement around town. We especially need to thank the landowner for allowing us carry out the project on their land, and also Poole based company Sea Fresh, who provided fish for our birds, which obviously saw them in good stead”

There’s still also a chance more of the 2017 chicks could arrive back to Dorset over the next 2-3 months, so the team be keeping our eyes to the skies for a good while longer yet.

So, in the meantime, please enjoy this footage of when we first saw him yesterday afternoon (June 12th). AMAZING!!!

First-time returning Osprey usually spend the season prospecting for nest sites and looking for potential future partners. Furthermore, migrant birds attracted to the harbour by our chicks and nest platforms may also show signs of attempting to nest. Needless to say, we’re all on tenterhooks waiting for them to arrive in the next few weeks so we can check for the 2017 chicks returning to the harbour and monitor behaviour of visitors! 

“We are now at an incredibly exciting time in the project as 2019 is the first year that we may see some of our 2017 chicks making their first return from Africa!”

That’s not say that we have been passively awaiting their arrival – quite the opposite! In anticipation for this year’s Osprey arrivals, we’ve put up three new Osprey nests, two on private land and one in partnership with RSPB Arne at Middlebere. Big thanks to Phil Stubbington for his kind donation which allowed us to get these nests installed in time this spring season.

The female below, CJ7, is from Rutland, and is our top pick as the bird most likely to attempt to breed in the harbour first. In 2017, she spent a couple of weeks hanging out with our translocated chicks, and in 2018, she spent the summer prospecting around the harbour. If one of our males joins her this Spring, it’s possible that it could be the beginnings of a future pair-bond. 

All throughout the Spring and Summer, we’ll be closely monitoring and recording all Osprey behaviour at our nest sites and around the harbour. This will allow us to assess which sites and habitat characteristics the Osprey are favouring, which will then mean that we can make improvements where necessary and allow us to make sure that any breeding attempts are not disturbed.

One of our biggest challenges will be reading ring numbers from any colour-ringed birds that pay us a visit. These rings will have been put on birds’ legs when they were chicks, to allow Osprey conservation managers to keep track of where the birds are and what they are up to.

When taking colour ring information, there are four key things to note:

1)    the colour of the ring

2)    the colour of the text on the ring

3)    the leg that the ring is on

4)    the code written on it (always read from the foot up)

Here’s an example from one of last year’s chicks. You can see that her ring colour is blue, the text colour is white, the colour ring is on her right leg and the code is 014. 

014 – Paul Morton

With that in mind, and thanks to donations from supporters Jan Toomer, Phil Stubbington and Mike Simmonds, we’ve invested in some brilliant technology – 4G trailcams! These are motion-triggered and will directly email us with images of anything that moves in our nests, making it much easier to read leg rings without disturbing the birds – pretty cool! We’ve already had some lovely (though non-Osprey) images from one camera, including this small flock of beautiful Starling. In terms of Osprey behaviour, we’ll have our team out this spring stationed at key locations around the harbour where we believe Osprey activity will be most interesting. Everything from feeding, hunting and perching behaviour will be logged and noted and of course, interaction between two birds will be especially interesting!

If you spot an Osprey in the harbour over the Spring and Summer, we’d love to hear from you! You can Tweet us @harbourbirds, email us at info@birdsofpooleharbour or you can phone us on 01202 641003.

We expected the first of this year’s translocated chicks to leave around a month after release and, sure enough, the first to set off, 013, headed south at 10:30am on August 30th. Chick 014 followed the next day and the remaining birds left over the course of the next three weeks. The last to depart, 002, was kept grounded for several days of wet and windy conditions, but a change of weather on September 21st was his cue to depart. After an early morning feed at the release site, the young male left a favourite perch, slowly circled to gain height and then headed off purposefully south. He was ten days later than any of the birds last year but had chosen the perfect morning to leave. It is amazing to think that by now he’s probably in southern Europe or perhaps even West Africa. Having lingered around the release site for 47 days after release, 002 would certainly have left in good condition with 3-sqaure meals per day in him! The post-fledging period – the time between their first flight and migration – is of critical importance for all young Ospreys. It helps the juvenile birds to develop confidence on the wing and also to build up strength for the long flight south. Crucially, it is also when young Ospreys imprint on their natal site, and therefore when the translocated birds learn that Poole Harbour is home.

Back in early September we also reported to you the difficulties our translocation had faced which resulted in several of this year’s birds passing away. At the time of writing, one of the birds, 005, had been taken to Cotswold Wildlife Park for treatment but, after initially making some progress, later deteriorated and also died a few weeks later.  As reported at the time, tests were ongoing as we needed to make sure every part of our process was analysed properly, allowing us to get a true and full understanding as to what was happening. Our team reacted extremely fast and we left no stone un-turned during this examination. Ensuring no infection or disease was being spread across the birds was ultimately the first most important factor to be addressed. Luckily, initial tests indicated no sign of this, and we were confident our issues laid elsewhere. We had our food sources professionally analysed several times as well as our water supply and results from those tests also showed that neither were directly responsible for the deaths. Ongoing tests by the pathologists at Cotswold Water Park indicated that it looked as if a Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency could be main cause of death. Thiamine levels in our food supply hadn’t been analysed during the first round of tests due to the complexities of that type of analysis, so food samples had to be sent to a lab in Europe for further analysis. Tests from those samples indicated some low levels of Thiamine, however it has now been concluded that a number of underlying issues in the birds, that would not normally manifest themselves, were exacerbated by another main factor; this summer’s heat wave, which impacted on the birds’ nutritional intake and individual development. It’s no coincidence that it was the older, stronger set of birds that survived this year.

Having a clearer understanding of what happened this year now allows us to implement and plan for next year, like making sure we only select birds of a specific age or older. However, we will continue to work with an expert team of avian pathologists from the International Zoo Veterinary Group to determine any other underlying causes of these deaths. Yes, the project faced hardships this summer, however it’s easy to overlook the many positives that also developed over the course of the year, of which there were many. Firstly, this summer/autumn saw a big increase compared to last year in the amount of interaction between our translocated chicks and migrant Osprey that were passing through the harbour. The day after the first release on July 31st, two migrant Osprey spent several days visiting our freshly released youngsters at the release site, often flying down and hovering over the feeding nests. In early August, up to three migrant Osprey were then active in and around the release site, often being joined by one of our birds in the air for a few minutes.

As our birds became a bit braver and bolder they began exploring further afield and many visitors to RSPB Arne nature reserve were treated to wonderful views of 007, 008 and 014 for several weeks as they pursued and pestered fish carrying adults to, on and away from the Middlebere nesting platform.

Our youngsters also began exploring the Wareham Channel, which is Poole Harbour’s premier fishing zone for Osprey during the spring and autumn, and it was here that we witnessed two amazing sights, both whilst hosting our public bird boats. Firstly, on August 24th we received a phone call from one of our volunteers that 008 was heading towards us and, sure enough, she appeared from over the top of Arne Hill where she then spent 20 minutes practice fishing and dropping into the water like she’d been doing it for years. Secondly, on August 27th we noticed from our boat trip that one of the nesting platforms on the Arne shoreline had a migrant Osprey sat on the feeding post with a fish, but, most amazingly of all, another Osprey was poking it’s head out from within the nest itself. We contacted our volunteers who had the radio tracking equipment and they were confident it was 013. Just amazing and, even better, a guest on board managed to get a distant record photo of the event.

You may be asking why all of this is important? The reason is because when migrant Osprey are passing through the harbour, and they then encounter and engage with our youngsters, it totally changes the dynamics of how those migrant Osprey see Poole Harbour – as a productive site for nesting. This in turn will then hopefully draw migrant Osprey back to Poole Harbour to breed, as well as our translocated chicks, and that’s exactly what we saw this spring. Last year, a non-breeding, two-year old female from Rutland called CJ7 spent a week in August ‘hanging out’ with our chicks in and around the release site before migrating off south for the winter. Tim Mackrill said at the time, “I bet she comes back to Poole Harbour next spring”. She did just that. This spring, a blue-ringed Osprey was seen arriving into the harbour and after a day was tracked down so that the ring number could be read; it was CJ7 who initially spent a week feeding from a favoured perch on RSPB Arne before adopting one of the nesting platforms for a further three weeks, and was even seen sitting in it several times. This was very exciting, however, because there were no males in the area wanting to set up a territory, she sadly spent the rest of the summer on her own.

Could that be about to change this coming spring? In April and May 2019, we could start seeing some of our released birds from 2017 arriving back for the very first time. If any do, it’s unlikely they’ll breed. However, if they come back and engage with CJ7, or any other migrant Osprey that now regard Poole Harbour as a potential breeding site, then things could start getting very interesting very soon and we’ll certainly be on the look out to try and track down any colour-ringed birds next year.

Finally, we’d also like to mention the public focus and interest the project has developed. The primary focus is to establish a south coast breeding population of Osprey, but naturally this type of work will attract plenty of positive public attention and we’re already beginning to see the local benefits. In 2017 we hosted just three Osprey boat cruises to celebrate the launch of the translocation and each of the three trips sold out. This year we decided to host nine trips and yet again all of them sold out. Over those nine days we engaged and enthused with just under 500 people, many of who had never seen an Osprey before. As luck would have it, it was a great autumn for migrant Osprey and each trip saw between 3-6 migrants as well as some of our translocated birds. The team at RSPB Arne also began running early morning Osprey walks on their reserve which were well received and will hopefully become a regular feature each August and September.

So, to wrap up our 2018 season, we’d again like to thank everyone for their support, kind words, financial contributions and generosity when it came to this year’s translocation. When our team were at their lowest, you were there for us and as a thank you we promise that, despite this year’s struggles, we’ll make the Poole Harbour Osprey translocation project the success it deserves to be, so that the birds can flourish and future generations can witness nesting Osprey on the south coast once more.