Was it really only April 9^th today? It could have been July 9^th as the sun beamed down and as the light SE wind blew. It reached 20 degrees in some parts of Dorset today and long may it continue. Positivity is much need at the moment and nothing brightens a nations mood than a good sunny bank holiday…well, normally!

This morning our current star of the show, female Osprey CJ7 made her debut (online) TV appearance when we were invited to host a video on Chris Packhams daily morning wildlife show ‘The Self Isolation Bird Blub’ You can watch the whole show HERE (as it’s all great), but if it’s Osprey info you’d like, you can skip to 26:30 and see our piece. Huge thanks to Meg and Chris for inviting us on, it was great to be able to give the project this boost and allow so many people to witness the magic!

CJ7 displayed some interesting behaviour both on and off the nest today. She had actually been ‘doing the rounds’ early morning and had been present on a different harbour nest platform about 10 minutes before arriving on the webcam. She then spent most of the late morning bringing a few large sticks to the nest and some dry moss too, before disappearing off for a feed in the afternoon. It seems any time between 6am and midday is a good time to tune in, but her behaviour will change as the days and weeks progress, so lets see what happens. We also mentioned yesterday the presence of a SECOND Osprey that’s also in the harbour currently. We sure it’s ‘Beaky’ and she too has taken up semi-residence on a harbour platform and is currently looking settled. How long she’ll stay for is any ones guess but LS7 better hurry up soon!

Other sightings from across the harbour today included a good pulse of Swallow north with many people logging them whilst out on their health walks. Another Osprey, this time a migrant was seen heading north over Upton in the early afternoon and yet more Red Kites were logged at Wareham Forest, Upton, Branksome, Ashley Cross, Parkstone, Poole Town and Canford Heath. A Cuckoo was calling in Wareham Forest, a couple of Tree Pipit were back on territory and a male Wheatear were present. At Lytchett Bay the first Reed Warbler of the spring was singing and Bearded Tit were on territory. A couple of migrating Tree Pipit were logged, one over Lytchett Matravers at night, and one arriving in over Alum Chine. Then, to top things off, what was assumed to be Tuesdays White Stork over Wareham was seen again in the Frome Valley near Holmebridge.

Female Osprey CJ7 on other harbour platform this AM prior to arriving on the nest cam

Well, today was the day we’d been waiting and hoping for, but more of that in a minute. General birding sightings consisted of 2 Spotted Redshank (including a sum plum individual), 5 Greenshank, 3 Green Sandpiper, 25 Black-tailed Godwit, 4 Wheatear, 7 Swallow, 1 Sedge Warbler and 1 Red Kite at Lytchett Fields along with late/migrating Pintail & Avocet. It was another Red Kite day today with 2 over Ballard, 1 over Canford Heath, 1 over Studland and 1 up the Piddle Valley.

Now, as many of you will know from our social media posts, last week, on April 2nd at 11:11am, CJ7 touched down in the harbour having returned from Africa for her fourth year in a row. For those that don’t know, CJ7 is (now) a 5-year-old female originally from Rutland Water, who has shown real intent in settling here in the harbour over the last 4-years. Last summer, she paired up with one of our translocated males, LS7, who was back in the UK for the first time since being raised and released here back in 2017. As he returned later back to the UK, as most young Ospreys do, they were unable to breed last year, so the couple spent the summer pair bonding and solidifying their relationship on numerous nest platforms around the harbour.

So, her return last week was a welcome sign of things to come. Now she has appeared on the livestream webcam and has made herself busy with prepping the nest, we hope that she will continue to spend time on this nest, awaiting the return of a male. Here’s this clip of CJ7 appearing on the nest for the first time:

With regards to the webcam, we want to make sure we communicate with viewers well and that we are able to answer any burning questions you may have. While we are always keeping one eye on the nest, we do have other things going on too, so please help us out by following these guidelines:

• Please help us keep the nest protected by not disclosing or discussing the location of this nest (or other nests on private sites).
• On weekdays (excluding bank holidays) one of the staff team will be available to answer questions in the Youtube chat between 10-11am. If you have general enquires about the project or the Ospreys, please use this time to get in touch and ask us, so that everyone can see the response, rather than calling us. Emails regarding the webcam can be sent to bophhq@birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk. Please contact us by phone about the nest in urgent cases (for example, if the nest is at risk) on 01202 641003.
• We aim to post a short summary each weekday about Osprey activity on our website (under the “Osprey Project” tab). We will keep you updated with any major developments, including bird arrivals, laying or hatching, at weekends too. Make sure to look for these summaries for anything you want to keep up to date with the comings and goings. Know that, while we will record as much info as possible, sometimes less significant activities may slip through the net!

Harbour Activity Update

Several people following our updates realised that CJ7 went somewhat incognito for a few days after her brief spell on a nest platform last week. Concerned for her whereabouts and keen to know if she was active anywhere else, Birds of Poole Harbour staff were given permission by the Dorset Police Rural Crime Team to carry out monitoring of Osprey activity in the harbour under strict guidelines, in order that we can detect any breeding activity and put in place necessary protections. On the morning of April 6th, a small team of four of us carried out a co-ordinated survey to look for activity. Literally within 10 minutes we logged Osprey activity in an area we hadn’t previously considered, but sadly the bird gave us the slip before we could confirm who it was. So, yesterday morning one of our team ventured back out and sure enough the Osprey were there again, only to discover it was CJ7 looking safe, well and happy in her new location. Little did we know that only 24 hours later, she would be on the livestream webcam!

Meanwhile, an un-ringed Osprey suddenly appeared on one of our camera traps on the morning of April 5th that we thought we recognised. Since then, this particular bird has been visiting a nest platform in the harbour which has allowed us to analyse the plumage, and we’re pretty sure it’s ‘Beaky’ (a ridiculous nickname that was given to her (by us) in a thoughtless moment that has sadly now stuck)! She’s only been present for a couple of days now, but it’s great news she’s back and looking settled, bringing in huge fish to the nesting platform each day. Last year she only stayed for 10 days in the spring before leaving for the summer, only to return again in August. This year she’s back much earlier, indicating she too may want to give Poole Harbour a try for her first nesting attempt?

We’d like to say a huge thanks to the Dorset Police Rural Crime Team for their co-operation and support. With their help we’ll continue to monitor when and where we can and keep an eye on things as they progress, with the intent of protecting any nesting attempts. We’d like to remind everyone that disturbing any bird on a nest, not just Osprey, during the breeding season is a criminal offence so please help us help them by keeping our distance (we’ve had enough practice!) this spring if you’re lucky enough to see an Osprey whilst out on your health walk. 

Thanks again to everyone for following this story, your support in funding the webcam, help and kind words over the last few months. We hope everyone is staying safe and well and we look forward to keeping you updated. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this short video from this morning of CJ7 bringing in nest material.

It was a warm one today and although it clouded over later in the day, it actually made it easier to spot ‘fly over’ birds which paid dividends for a friend of ours here at the charity, Sean Walls from Biotrack, who had 4 White Stork fly over West Morden, just north of the harbour. There were way more Swallow and Sand Martin passing over today too and with these easterlies set to continue until next week, let there be many more. There have still been 2 Osprey sighted in the harbour and with a bit of detective work today we’ve managed to get to the bottom of the conundrum and will be posting an update tomorrow. At Upton CP 3 late Wigeon remained and 2 Cetti’s Warbler were along the shoreline with an Egyptian Goose also in Holes Bay.

Female Osprey CJ7 at secret site within the harbour looking safe and well

Well, there’s still no definitive sign of CJ7 since Wednesday but an Osprey was seen out over the Wareham Channel yesterday afternoon, which was seen to catch a fish and take it towards Wareham Forest. There was a nice little fall of Willow Warblers with several around Lytchett Bay and in peoples gardens. Last night there were also plenty of people out seeing if they could add Common Scoter to their garden lists with the understanding that many have been migrating at night recently, and amazingly they were heard over central Poole, Lytchett Bay, Ridge and Lytchett Matravers which is just astonishing. The springs first Whimbrel for the harbour also passed over Lytchett Matravers last night with many more likely to be recorded over the coming weeks. There were also still 2 Little Ringed Plover on Wareham Common flood. Our Osprey nest cam is offereing some ‘interim’ entertainment whilst we wait for the return of male Osprey LS7 with a Kestrel on there today which was seen carrying a male Sand Lizard. This is typical behaviour for Kestrel that nest on or on the edge of heathland habitats, the Kestrel pair at Arne almost feeding exclusively on Lizards.

Kestrel with male Sand Lizard on Osprey Nest Cam

Lytchett Fields had a good suit of birds with 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 sum plum Water Pipit, 108 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Greenshank, 1 Green Sandpiper and 38 Redshank. Red Kites were seen over Lytchett Matravers, Upton and Poole. There were 2 Little Ringed Plover on the Wareham Common floods. There were more Common Scoter on the move with 3 flocks over just north of the harbour between 10:30pm and midnight. No Osprey appeared on any nest platforms today but one was seen over Wareham mid-morning.

Starling – Upton Garden

Being in lockdown (hate that phrase) means it’s rather tricky to carry much of our hoped for Osprey nest monitoring to log when different birds arrive back into the harbour. Luckily there are still a few people who are able to get out to local areas for their daily health walks, which resulted in another Lytchett Bay Osprey this evening, the third this spring already! Sadly, once again it didn’t hang around and we still wait for one to drop on to one of our Poole Harbour nest platforms. Luckily, despite the drop in monitoring efforts we still have three trigger cameras set up on three other nest platforms around the harbour, which work via the phone network, so every two hours we get photo updates of what’s been triggering the cameras. To date it’s mostly been wind and Carrion Crows but there’s always that moment of excitement when we get the updates.

Today the male Peregrine was on the Asda building feeding, but there was no sign of the female. Is she on eggs somewhere or has she given up on a hopeless lover?

We’re also just about to start updating our Poole Harbour list with additional info (historic and current), providing you with more about the birds you see (or may never see) out around the harbour, so be sure to click on our PH List link over the coming weeks.

Still images from the other nest cams we’re monitoring

Today’s icy blast was a shock to the system compared to last weeks very welcome warm spell. As seems common practice now, the day started off with….yep, you guessed it….a Red Kite, this one over Lytchett Bay again. A Black Redstart was in Somerby Road, Oakdale and in Holes Bay a 60 tardy Wigeon were lingering on and the Brownsea Lagoon was still busy with 2000+ Black-tailed Godwit, low numbers of Avocet and c10 early returning Sandwich Tern. The wind is due to ease off again by Tuesday meaning we can all get back to sky/garden watching again pretty soon, and with Swallows, House Martins and other passerines all arriving during April, we can carry on bolstering our lockdown garden lists.

It was also April 1^st 2019 when female Osprey CJ7 arrived back into the harbour and began showing real interest in Middlebere nest platform. She spent many days being active on that nest before another larger female came along at the end of April and booted her off before CJ7 then came back again in May. The larger female then arrived back later in the summer whilst CJ7 decided she preferred a nest platform elsewhere in the harbour. Well….April 1^st is this Wednesday! Will she be back on time? To help build excitement, Brittany Maxted, our Osprey project officer has put together a great film which includes all the still images taken by our trigger camera that was set up on the Middlebere nest last year.