We had some good news today when we were able to obtain the ring details of the male Osprey that’s been hanging around for 3 weeks. One of our team, Olly spent time up at Arne all last week waiting for the bird to come in on the nesting platform but the wind seemed to keep it at bay. However, as soon as the wind dropped off today, he was back and with a strained eye and good optics the ring number was read as S1. We contacted the team at Rutland who confirmed this is one of their birds, a male that hatched in 2015. As expected he wasn’t seen last year by the team as Osprey tend to spend their first summer down in Africa, however it seems S1 is now back and taking in the sights. Ringing data can provide so much and just by simply obtaining the ring number we’re able to tell you a bit more about this bird. S1 was actually sighted back at Rutland this spring on May 10th and was hanging around and causing mischief by gate-crashing other nests at Rutland. You can read a blog entry about this from the Rutland Team HERE. He was last seen at 16:00 at Rutland on May 24^th which co-insides perfectly with a colour ringed Osprey being sighted in Poole Harbour on May 25^th. Several weeks past without us knowing where this bird had come from but thankfully today the ring number was obtained and we can start piecing together his movements. Then today, early AM, local raptor watcher Peter Hadrill emailed through stating there was in fact another Osprey in the Wareham Channel this morning too. Ospreys in the harbour in June is unusual but it’s not unheard of and data provided by Jol Mitchell from Dorset Bird Club, shows that over a 10 year period (2004 – 2013) Poole Harbour has had small number of visiting Osprey mid-summer. Who knows where these birds will head to next year when they arrive back, but they’re obviously enjoying their time down here in sunny Dorset. Finally, the 5 Spoonbill were again on Lytchett Fields.

Total number of Poole Harbour Osprey ‘bird days’ 2004-2013 (Months split into early month and late month)

Osprey (S1) – Middlebere – Simon Kidner