With Osprey passage now easing up, female CJ7 will likely encounter less and less Osprey as May creeps in to June. It’s hard to estimate how many passage Osprey she may have encountered this spring whilst out around the harbour but interactions on her nest have been incredibly rare. However, this evening at 18:51 she suddenly became very defensive on the nest and started ‘mantling’ as if to protect the nest (and eggs) from another passing Osprey. We watched intently and sure enough after about 30 seconds an Osprey flew into view and began circling around her for several minutes. On closer inspection we were able to see that it was un-ringed, dashing any hopes that it may have been one of our 2018 birds returning. The 2^nd bird eventually landed on the camera post (out of sight) before both the visitor and CJ7 flew off. Although we’re not 100%, we believe from her behaviour, and that of the other bird, that the visitor was likely another female coming to inspect CJ7 on the nest. Regardless, it’s great to see CJ7 engaging with other Ospreys and it’s good for passage birds to see her on a nest in Poole Harbour, as it could act as a reminder for these migrants that Poole Harbour has a (building) population and potentially attracting new birds to the area. Lets see what happens over the coming days?

The Nightjar started singing early on the osprey nest cam last night at 21:12 and then again and 22:04 but as it was quite cold the singing didn’t last long. Be sure to tune in each night though between 21:30 and 22:30 to see if you can hear live Nightjar song. Other sightings today included Hobby at Lytchett Bay, the Piddle Valley and Hartland Moor. Cuckoo’s were at Swineham Lytchett Bay and a Red Kite was over Fleetsbridge. A Turtle Dove was seen just outside the Poole Harbour boundary flying over Westbourne of all places.