With May coming to a close, we couldn’t have asked for a better spring in regards to Osprey progress with several new milestones hit. Most importantly we have three new males now present in the harbour area which will be seeking to set up territories of their own in the coming years. Of course theres also been the excitement of a newly arrived female adding to the drama, with reports coming in over the last few days of activity on several publicly visible nest platforms. We therefore felt it was important to provide an accurate update on the situation to avoid any confusion or mis-communication.

On Wednesday 27th of May, a new Scottish ringed female Osprey, ring number 6J8 arrived into the harbour and instantly drew the attention of our male 5R0. The two sat on a harbour nest platform for a few hours, and a fish delivery was even observed. The next morning the two birds were seen again, and some sky dancing was logged, and the male also tried to mate with her, but being as 6J8 is only 2-years old, she refused his advances and he soon gave up. The following day 5R0 had disappeared, but this time male 5H6 paid her a visit, and he too started getting a bit over excited, trying to land on top of her, and was seen carrying a few sticks. After an hour or so of trying to impress her, 5H6 disappeared and 6J8 was once again on her own. Then, the following morning 2 Ospreys were seen again, and upon reviewing our camera footage we could now see our third male Osprey 5H3 was now trying his luck, flapping around her, delivering her a fish and ‘playing piggyback’ (seemingly a popular game with these young lads)!

In summary, over the last 5 days, all three of our males have been interacting with 6J8, which is exactly what we want as this will give her plenty of purpose to return to Poole Harbour next spring. For clarity, no new pairs have formed, and no copulating has taken place. The reports we’ve received of copulating are simply just each of the males trying their luck, but as explained above, 6J8 isn’t in breeding condition, so has refused all of their advances, despite their best efforts of landing on her head and back!!! There’s still a long way to go this summer and A LOT to be sorted out between them all and it’s hoped that 6J8 will spend the whole of the summer and early autumn touring the local area, checking out multiple potential nest sites and making assessments ready for next year, whilst constantly attracting the attention of our three excitable teenagers. Of course, there’s always the chance that other new females may enter the equation, which could spice things up even more. In truth, we won’t really know the outcome of this situation until next spring, but it’s been fun watching and witnessing this new era evolve, and long may it continue.

Elsewhere there were 2 Little Tern, 2 Roseate Tern and 2 Spoonbill on Brownsea today and a White-tailed Eagle flew down Middlebere.

2-year old male Osprey 5R0 coming to investigate newly arrived female 3J8

2-year old male Osprey 5H6 coming to investigate newly arrived female 3J8

3-year old male Osprey 5H3 coming to investigate newly arrived female 3J8

2-year old male Osprey 5R0 attempting a tricky balancing act with newly arrived female 3J8!