The aim of the project is to help restore a South Coast breeding population of Osprey for the first time in over 200 years, and in doing so help fragmented populations across Western Europe to link up and expand.

This summer, the team received fourteen new chicks from Scotland, which were collected under licence by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and translocated to Poole on 11th July.

The first birds were released on 31^st July, and further releases were undertaken over the course of the next week. Seven of these birds are now exploring the harbour, including Arne and Middlebere and interacting with several migrant adult Ospreys who are also present. However, over a six-day period, from 6^th August to 11^th August,six birds, including four which had yet to be released, devastatingly, died.

On 5^th August, we started to notice signs of ill health with two birds. Immediate action was taken to assess the cause of this deterioration and following the first unexpected death during the night of 6^th August, each of the ill birds were taken to the Cotswold Wildlife Park for urgent veterinary assessment and care. Sadly a total of five birds with similar or identical symptoms died. Bacterial and viral infections were ruled out, and further precautionary tests were carried out, including a review of our process, so we could begin identifying possible causes.

Having liaised with the pathologists and veterinary experts, it is thought that a nutritional Thiamine deficiency has been a significant contributing factor in the deaths. This is likely to have been exacerbated by this summer’s extreme heat wave, which is known to have caused problems for a range of other different species. Blood tests continue to be carried out to confirm this and we hope for the results in the coming days.

In a separate incident, one of the released birds which had been out flying for over a week was found drowned off the east side of Round Island, having become tangled in a ball of thick algae.

This sequence of events has been extremely shocking for the project team, but identifying the cause of death and the care for the remaining birds have been key priorities over the last ten days.

We thank you for your patience regarding this news.

 The aim of the project is to help restore a South Coast breeding population of Osprey for the first time in over 200 years, and in doing so help fragmented populations across Western Europe to link up and expand. This project is part of the wider plan for the recovery and conservation of Osprey in Europe and the Mediterranean which was written by Roy Dennis on behalf of the Council of Europe and follows long-established techniques for the rearing and release of translocated Ospreys.

This summer, the team received fourteen new chicks from Scotland, which were collected under licence by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and delivered to the Poole project team on 11th July. The birds were kept in the same specially designed release pens as last year and fed the same diet of locally sourced fresh fish. All were fit and healthy and on 31st July and 1st August, the first five birds, 003, 007, 011, 013 and 014 were successfully released and quickly grew in confidence on the wing. A second release was planned for the following week.

On 5th August, two of the birds yet to be released began to show serious symptoms of ill health, including spasms and seizures, that were unfamiliar to the project team or its partners. We monitored both closely and sought veterinary advice. Then, during the night of 6th August, a third bird suddenly began to display identical symptoms and quickly and unexpectedly died. The deceased bird was taken straight to a veterinary specialist for a post-mortem at Cotswold Wildlife Park. The team there, led by Jamie Craig, have extensive knowledge of a wide range of different bird species and long-established links with highly experienced avian vets and other experts. As a precaution, the two ill birds were also taken to Cotswold Wildlife Park for intensive care.

A suggestion was that given the neurological symptoms we had observed, a possible cause was a thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency. The birds were given a thiamine injection as a precaution, but various tests would be required to confirm the diagnosis. 

In the meantime, four of the remaining birds, 002, 008, 010 and 012 were considered ready for release, which was undertaken on the morning of 7th August. As a precaution, vitamin supplements, that included thiamine, were added to the fish we provided twice daily for both the released birds and those still in the pens. Some 36 hours after it made its first flight, one of the released birds, 010, also began displaying symptoms of ill health. It was put back in one of the pens overnight but quickly deteriorated showing exactly the same symptoms as the other ill birds and died the following morning. Not long after this we also received news from the team at Cotswold that one of the birds we had taken into care two days previously had been found to have damage to its lower back and leg, potentially caused by the spasms, and the decision was made to euthanize it. Furthermore, another of the birds yet to be released, 004, had developed fast deteriorating symptoms overnight and it too died before it was possible for it to be assessed by the specialists. The last remaining bird in the pen, 006, which was not ready to fledge, was taken to the specialist vet as a precaution as it too began to show similar symptoms. It was given a thiamine injection on arrival but deteriorated over the course of the next 24 hours and also died.

In under a week we had lost five of our fourteen birds.

Then, on the evening of 8th August, we found that one of the first birds to be released, 003, which had been flying strongly, feeding well and exploring the further reaches of the harbour, had drowned after becoming tangled in dense weed on the shores of an island that is only accessible by boat. This was most probably unrelated to the deaths of the other birds, and a danger all young Ospreys face during their first weeks on the wing but given the events that had unfolded in the previous few days it was a severe blow.

The speed with which the young Ospreys had become ill and died was both shocking and devastating, not least because we are still unsure of what had caused their sudden deaths. The protocols we used this year are identical to those used in our successful first year and we are unaware of any similar mortality events occurring in any other Osprey translocation projects.

As a matter of urgency, we began running tests on our food and water supplies and re-evaluating our daily procedures. The pathology results from the lab ruled out a bacterial and viral infection, which was important as it meant the health of our free-flying birds would not be affected. Tests are on-going but with each of the deceased birds displaying identical symptoms prior to death, the specialists are all in agreement that a thiamine deficiency is almost certainly a main contributing factor.

Thiamine (Vitamin B1) is required for a basic cellular metabolism and is crucial in the development of young birds and animals. Blood tests have been conducted to see whether a thiamine deficiency in the birds is present and we hope to have the results from these tests back very soon.

This has been an incredibly tough week for all the project team, our volunteers and our partners. We will continue to test and assess our deceased birds to provide a clear set of data for a robust analysis.

Some encouraging news is that 005, one of the first birds we took for treatment at Cotswold Wildlife Park, is showing real signs of improvement. It was initially suffering from near paralysis in both legs, but thanks to the swift action of Jamie Craig and the team at Cotswold Wildlife Park, we think that the thiamine injection they gave it on arrival may have saved it. There is still a great deal of rehabilitation required, but it is encouraging that the bird is showing consistent signs of improvement. Interestingly, sixteen Herring Gulls, which were found alive but with paralysis on the Baltic Sea coast, recovered completely after being treated in a similar way, with birds that were not treated in this way all dying. (Balk et al., 2009). We hope that 005 will recover sufficiently to be released in time for migration.

A project of this scale and ambition will always face challenges: what is important is the manner with which we respond to and learn from such challenges and, crucially, how we use our expanded knowledge base to continue to strive for our overall objective. Other projects have faced similar challenges, including the first year of the Rutland Osprey translocation project when sadly four of their first eight birds died from Salmonella poisoning. Nonetheless, Rutland is now home to a well-established population following the first successful breeding attempt in 2001.

As with Rutland, valuable lessons have been, and are still being, learnt within our project. We are extremely proud of the perseverance and dedication of our team and everyone who has fought to help our birds over the past week. Despite this year’s setback with our project, we can still take heart in the fact that we have released another seven healthy Ospreys who are now out and enjoying Poole Harbour, and already mixing and interacting with migrant Ospreys that are currently passing through. We were also happy to hear that last winter three of last years released birds were photographed down in West Africa which is testament to the process we had in place last summer. We very much hope that 005 will be joining them again in a few weeks’ time. We remain determined to restore a population of these wonderful birds to the South Coast.

We hope to have more information over the coming days but in the meantime, we thank you for your patience and support. We also owe our sincere thanks to Jamie Craig, Emily Boyes and the team at Cotswold Wildlife Park for their incredible support and advice during this very difficult period.

The Poole Harbour Osprey Project Team.

References

Balk L, Hägerroth P-Å, Gustavsson H, Sigg L, Åkerman G, Hanson M, Tjärnlund U, Hansson T, Hallgrimsson GT, Zebühr Y, Broman D, Mörner T and Sundberg H. (2009) Wild birds of declining European species are dying from a thiamine deficiency syndrome. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106, 12001–12006

Balk L, Hägerroth P-Å, Gustavsson H, Sigg L, Åkerman G, Muñoz YR, Honeyfield DC, Tjärnlund U, Oliveira K, Ström K, McCormick SD, Karlsson S, Ström M, Manen M van, Berg A-L, Halldórsson HP, Strömquist J, Collier TK, Börjeson H, Mörner T, Hansson T (2016) Widespread episodic thiamine deficiency in Northern hemisphere wildlife. Sci Rep 6:38821. doi: 10.1038/srep38821

However, sadly, this story doesn’t have happy ending. We received news that the leg rings of LS6 had been found on the outskirts of a village, but other than we had no more info. Well, with a bit of digging and calling on international connections, our project partners the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation have been able to find out more and have also been sent some (sad) photos. The photos show a carcass, which is said to be LS6 who had been found by locals several weeks ago. There are no obvious signs of damage on the carcass, but there is an odd twist in this ‘tail’.

LS6 – Paul Hill

No sooner had we received news of LS6’s death, when Tim Mackrill was suddenly sent an image of LS6 alive! As it transpires the photo was taken about two weeks prior and only 2km from where he was finally found. What’s interesting is that if you look at the photo of LS6 alive, he seems to be missing the whole of his tail. Had he had a run in with a crocodile? (quite frequent in Africa apparently)! And did the lack of balance when hunting make him a less efficient hunter? Who knows, but what we do know is that sadly we’re one chick down (that we know of). This was always to be expected as there is a high mortality rate for Ospreys on their first migration south. Further information can be found here.

But don’t be too down heartened. We’re now in early April and migrant Osprey are being seen back in Poole Harbour again. These aren’t birds related to our project as they won’t be back until next spring, rather they’re adult birds making their way back to breeding grounds further north. So with spring now in the air, why not head out to somewhere like Arne, Middlebere or the Rockely view point to try and see if you can see one of these amazing birds before they head off north.

We announced two weeks ago that one of our Osprey chicks (LS7) raised and released into Poole Harbour last summer was seen in Western Senegal in late January. This was a rare and unexpected sighting. Today, we’ve just received a photo from a birder who was down in Africa over the New Year who had (unknowingly at the time) photographed ANOTHER one of our chicks…this time LS3!!! More astonishingly it was only 21km away from where LS7 had been seen recently. To receive news of one bird was a rare event in itself but to have a photo of a second a few weeks later is unheard of. We’re absolutely thrilled as this is a really positive sign that at least some of our chicks are fit and well having made their first long and dangerous migration to west Africa.

To read more about this sighting, head to Tim Mackrill’s blog on the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation Website.

LS3 – Jose Louis Carlo

 Tim Mackrill from the Roy Dennis Foundation received news from a warden friend of his in Western Senegal that one of our chicks from the 2017 release, LS7, has been seen safe and well in the Sine-Saloum Delta. This is just brilliant. This area is a well know Osprey over-wintering hot spot that Tim has visited before in which he states “you couldn’t choose to be anywhere better during the winter if you’re an Osprey than there…LS7 has chosen well”

To describe and highlight just how good this location is Tim has written an excellent blog post on the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation website.

The chicks which were collected from healthy sustainable populations in Scotland and are part of a five-year translocation project have been held in large holding pens over-looking Poole Harbour and have been cared for by a team of volunteers over the last three weeks. The fully-grown chicks will spend the next 4-6 weeks within Poole Harbour, familiarising and imprinting themselves on the local area before migrating down to West Africa.  The project which is being run by local charity ‘Birds of Poole Harbour’, Scottish charity ‘The Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation’ and local wildlife technology company ‘Wildlife Windows’ was given the go-ahead this spring and its hoped that over the next 4-5 years Ospreys will adopt Poole Harbour as their new home and re-colonise the south coast.

Osprey were once widespread across the whole of western Europe but became extinct in the UK by the mid-1800’s mainly due to human interference and as a result struggled to recover across this region. The five-year project will see Osprey chicks being brought down to Poole Harbour each July until 2021. Male Ospreys normally return to their natal areas to breed, and it is hoped that this year’s translocated birds will return for the first time in 2019.

Osprey, which feed exclusively on fish, pass through Poole Harbour every year on migration, attracted by the abundance Mullet. In late August the harbour can host up to 6 Osprey at any one time as they fatten up before their long migration down to West Africa.

Since the chicks’ arrival in mid-July the volunteer care team have been feeding the birds 3 times a day on chunks of fish. The success of the project wholly relies on the birds having zero contact with humans, so plates of fish were deposited through small letterbox style flaps at the back of the pens. Now that the birds have been released fresh fish will be placed on artificial nests close to the release pens until all of the young Ospreys migrate south. The Osprey team has received welcome offers of support from local companies with Poole based fish suppliers ‘Sea Fresh’ kindly donating fresh fish to help feed the chicks and well know Poole restaurant ’Storm’ offering storing and prepping facilities.

Paul Morton from the ‘Birds of Poole Harbour’ charity stated:

“To see our first eight Osprey chicks now flying free is just incredible. We began working on the application for this project almost two years ago now, and it seemed like a lifetime away before we got to this stage. We hope this will engage and encourage people to get out and enjoy watching these incredible birds of prey before they head of south for the winter. The offers of help and fresh fish from Storm and Sea Fresh have been vitally important to the project and will help to ensure that the young Ospreys are in the best possible condition when they depart on migration.”

The volunteer team are now monitoring and tracking the birds’ movements around the harbour using tiny lightweight radio tracking devices mounted on each of the chick’s tails. The monitoring of the birds after release is a hugely important time and the team would welcome any sightings of Ospreys over the coming weeks and specifically ones with blue leg rings on their right leg showing the letters LS and then a number. It’s expected that throughout August, as the chicks get a bit more adventurous, they’ll begin exploring the whole of Poole Harbour with areas such as Arne, Middlebere and the Wareham Channel being good places to see Osprey activity.

World-renowned Osprey expert Roy Dennis from the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation said: “We are delighted to see the young Ospreys now flying around Poole Harbour. The next few weeks are an incredibly important period as the birds grow in confidence on the wing and prepare for their first migration to West Africa. This is another step towards restoring a population of Ospreys on the south coast of England.”

Ospreys, also known as Mullet Hawks because of their exclusive fish-eating habits once bred all across Western Europe, including southern Britain but were sadly persecuted to extinction, with the last known historic breeding attempt occurring on the Somerset Levels in 1847.

Project Background

Osprey are one of the UK’s largest birds of prey and specialise their diet entirely on fish. Seeing one catch a large fish from the surface of the water is a truly impressive spectacle. They were once widespread across Western Europe, but due to persecution and habitat destruction were almost wiped out from everywhere but they managed to re-establish a tiny population in Scotland in 1954. In the late 1990’s a pioneering project led by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation re-established a breeding population of osprey at Rutland Water in the Midlands; a big coup for osprey conservation.

Local charity Birds of Poole Harbour are now working with the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and local tech company Wildlife Windows to use the same methodology, translocation, to re-establish breeding osprey to the south coast of the UK, which will provide an important link up to birds breeding on the continent, central and northern England and Scotland.

What is Translocation?

Translocation is a commonly used method in wildlife conservation, involving moving individuals from a healthy, sustainable population to another suitable location with the goal to create another healthy population. For this project, chicks are collected under licence from Scottish breeding pairs and brought down to Poole. The chicks which remain completely wild and have no human interaction are acclimatised to the area in pens for 2-3 weeks before being released into the harbour, where they spend a further couple of weeks imprinting on the area (memorising it as ‘home’) before they migrate off to West Africa for two years prior to returning to breed for the first time.

The Story So Far

The project began in the summer of 2017 when eight Osprey were raised and released into Poole Harbour by the team. Incredibly, they received news this winter that two of them had been spotted in Western Senegal and one in the Gambia, Africa. In slightly less excellent news, it seems that one hade maybe been predated by a crocodile! Mortality is usually high in young osprey as their first migrations are full of danger, so losses are to be expected and is the reason why a total of 60 chicks will be released over the five-year project.

Each spring and autumn Poole Harbour sees good numbers of migrant Osprey passing through the area as they make their way back and forth between their breeding ground. Excitingly, it seems that the presence of the Osprey chicks in the harbour has encouraged osprey from other populations to stick around and check out the area as well. Last year, a two-year old female from Rutland, CJ7, fed and roosted with the Poole chicks at their release site for a week. This year on her spring migration up from Africa, she came straight back to the harbour where she was seen investigating several of the nesting platforms put up around the harbour in a previous effort to encourage osprey to breed. It’s hoped that next spring, she may arrive back at the same time as the Poole birds and begin thinking about setting up a territory around the harbour somewhere.

This Season

While the team wait with bated breath to see if any of the 2017 chicks return in the spring of 2019, the team are gearing up for a bumper release this year due to the arrival of the fourteen new chicks with the release scheduled for August. Each of the fourteen newly arrived birds has a unique numbered leg ring, which for this year will be 001 – 014. Whilst in the pens the birds will be fed by a small team of dedicated volunteers three times a day on freshly cut fish which for a second year in a row has been kindly donated to the project by Poole based fresh fish supplier Seafresh.

Paul Morton, co-founder of the Birds of Poole Harbour charity stated: I can’t believe we’re in the second year of the project already, it only feels like yesterday we were putting the application together. We’ve already successfully raised and released eight chicks last year and to have another fourteen this summer is really exciting. The project has had so much nationwide support and we can’t thank everyone enough for their kind words.

There is currently a life-size osprey nest, built by Jason Fathers of Wildlife Windows, on display in the Birds of Poole Harbour HQ on Poole Quay for visitors to see, and this nest will go out into the harbour to be used by the birds later this season. Due to popular demand, the team have also put on a number of Osprey cruises this August so that they can speak to the public about the project whilst cruising around the pristine setting of Poole Harbour and perhaps seeing an Osprey or two.

The chicks, which were collected from healthy, sustainable populations in northern Scotland were transported down in mid-July and are now settling into their new homes whilst familiarising themselves with the local area. The project which is being run by local charity ‘Birds of Poole Harbour’, Scottish charity ‘The Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation’ and local wildlife technology company ‘Wildlife Windows’ was given the go-ahead this spring and it’s hoped that over the next 4-5 years Ospreys will adopt Poole Harbour as their new home and re-colonise the south coast.

Osprey were once widespread across the whole of western Europe but became extinct in the UK by the mid-1800’s mainly due to human interference and as a result struggled to recover across this region. The five-year project will see Osprey chicks being brought down to Poole Harbour each July and then held in large holding pens for two-three weeks, before then being released as soon as they are able to fly. It is during their first few weeks on the wing that Poole Harbour becomes imprinted as home rather than Scotland. Male Ospreys normally return to their natal areas to breed, and so it is hoped that males will start to look at setting up territories on the south coast by 2021.

Osprey pass through Poole Harbour every year on migration, attracted by the abundance of fish such as Mullet and flatfish. In late August the harbour can host up to 6 Osprey at any one time as birds fatten up before their long migration down to west Africa.

As Osprey feed exclusively on fish, a vital part of the project is ensuring that the newly arrived chicks get enough fresh food to fatten themselves up before being released in early august. The project team have linked up with Poole based fish restaurant ‘Storm’ who have kindly offered to source, prepare and store the fish for the chicks to help support the project. The prepped fish will then be fed to the chicks by a small team of volunteers through July and into August where their health and behaviour will be closely monitored.

Paul Morton from the ‘Birds of Poole Harbour’ charity stated:

“We’re so pleased to see the chicks finally arrive in Poole Harbour. It’s been a long few months waiting for this moment, so to see them in the pens has made the whole project very real now. The public support we’ve received has been over-whelming and the offer of help from ‘Storm’ restaurant has been key to making this part of the process run smoothly and efficiently”

Pete Miles, owner of ‘Storm’ restaurant and local fisherman added:

“It’s a real privilege to be involved in the project and to help the Osprey team out. Anything that helps promote and educate local environmental stories is always good news. We’ve already got all the facilities to prep fresh fish, so it made sense to offer help, plus I’m really looking forward to seeing these birds out flying around the harbour in years to come whilst I’m out on my fishing boat.”

The chicks were carefully monitored and collected by Roy Dennis and Tim Mackrill from the “Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation”, whose decades worth of experience in Osprey conservation and biology ensured the young chicks were in the best hands possible. Roy has monitored Osprey nests in Scotland since the 1960s and was able to select the healthiest chicks from pre-chosen nests.

Roy Dennis stated:

“We are delighted that this exciting and important project is underway. Establishing a population of Ospreys on the south coast will restore the species to an area where it was once common and also help to link expanding populations in central England, Wales and northern France.  We are moving the birds to the best possible location given the abundance of fish found in Poole Harbour and the plethora of potential nest sites in the surrounding area. I’m particularly excited about this project because I was born in the New Forest.”

Once the chicks look ready and strong enough to fly, the Osprey monitoring team will open the pens, allowing the chicks to take to the wing for the first time and explore their new area. It is expected that the young Ospreys will remain in the harbour for a further 4-6 weeks after release before they begin their long migration to West Africa. The released Osprey will then remain in Africa during the summer and winter of 2018 and won’t think about flying north to the UK until late spring 2019. Its hoped that the first breeding will take place around 2021.

A new and exciting Osprey translocation has been given the go ahead to take place in Poole Harbour this year as a first stage in establishing a south coast breeding population of this spectacular bird. The project is being led by local charity ‘Birds of Poole Harbour’, Scottish charity the ‘The Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation’ and local Poole-based business ‘Wildlife Windows’.

Ospreys, which feed exclusively on fish, historically bred across the whole of Britain and NW Europe; but populations drastically declined in the Middle Ages and became extinct in England by the mid 1800’s. The five-year project looks to restore Ospreys to their former breeding grounds in the south of England where they used to have the local nickname “Mullet Hawk”. At the same time the project will provide an important stepping stone between breeding populations in Britain and northern France, with the aim of enhancing the long-term survival of the Western European population as a whole. The project is part of a wider conservation recovery plan of Osprey in Western Europe and the Mediterranean region.

A Conservation Recovery Plan

Ospreys are annual visitors to Poole Harbour as they pass through on their northward and southward migrations between their breeding grounds in Scotland and central England and their over-wintering grounds in West Africa. Over the last 8 years, efforts within Poole Harbour have been made by the RSPB, Natural England, The Forestry Commission, The National Trust and private landowners to try and attract Osprey to stay and breed by erecting artificial nesting platforms in the hope that the birds will adopt them as their own nests. Osprey are semi-colonial and often choose to nest in areas where other Osprey are nesting and in 2009, the RSPB went as far as placing decoy birds, supplied by Roy Dennis, on one of their nesting platforms on their Arne Reserve. Although there has been some interest by Osprey in these nesting platforms over that 8 year period, none have decided to stay and breed and it’s now thought a translocation project is the next logical step to try and encourage these incredible birds of prey to settle on the south coast of England.

Previous Restoration Success

Translocation has proved a highly successful means by which to restore ospreys to areas from which they have been lost. The much-admired population at Rutland Water in the East Midlands was established by a pioneering translocation project in the late 1990s and similar work has since taken place in two regions of Spain as well as in Italy, Portugal and Switzerland.

This pan-European experience means that the Poole Harbour project, which will involve licensed collection of five-six-week-old chicks from healthy, sustainable populations in Scotland, has the best-possible chance of success. Once collected the chicks will be safely brought down to Poole Harbour and held in large holding pens at a confidential site for just two – three weeks to acclimatize to their new home and prepare for their first flights. Once released they will be provided with fresh fish on artificial nests, to replicate normal osprey behaviour, and so are likely to remain around Poole Harbour for a further six weeks (the normal post-fledging period) before beginning their long migration to West Africa. During this six-week period the birds will imprint on the area and adopt Poole as their new home.

Paul Morton from the Birds of Poole Harbour charity stated:

“The main issue that limits the natural spread of Ospreys is dispersal. When young Ospreys return to breed for the first time – usually after two-three years – males prefer to nest in the area where they themselves were raised, while females tend to settle close to where other Ospreys are nesting. These factors combined mean that the natural expansion of the species is very slow – often as little as 11 km per year. The project we’re proposing will help to significantly speed up this process and restore the Osprey to the south coast where we know that they were once a common sight.” Paul added “The experience of other projects in Europe indicates that we should start seeing translocated Ospreys returning to their adopted home at Poole two-three years after they are released.”

Every autumn Poole Harbour can host up to six Osprey at any one time, attracted by the abundance of salt water fish such as Mullet with the last two weeks of August and first two weeks of September being the optimum time to see them as they fatten up before their long journey south to West Africa.

Osprey tourism is hugely popular with the top four Osprey visitor attractions in the UK raising around £4 million each year for local economies between the months of March and August.

Paul Morton said, “We hope that this is a project that the whole community will get behind. In other parts of the country there is great excitement when the Ospreys return each spring, and in years to come it would be marvelous if there is a similar feeling in Poole and along other parts of the south coast.”

Roy Dennis and Tim Mackrill, from the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, who have great expertise in osprey translocation added, “This project is the next logical step in the conservation of Ospreys in the UK. The Rutland project completely changed the distribution of the species in the south of the UK, but they remain a very rare breeding bird in England despite the fact that extensive areas of suitable habitat exist. Establishing a population of Ospreys on the south coast, where estuaries provide extremely rich fishing grounds, will be another positive step forward and help to link existing populations in Rutland, Wales and France”

Jason Fathers of Wildlife Windows concluded, “It is a privilege to be involved in this significant project to restore Ospreys to their former breeding grounds in the south of the UK and even more rewarding to know that this step can help the European population as a whole. Much work has been done by local conservation organisations over the last eight years to persuade these wonderful birds to breed here once again and it is great to know we are one step closer to realizing this goal”