Todays strong winds saw a small element of up channel passage out in Poole Bay this AM with 10+ Gannet, 20+ Sandwich Tern and a full summer plumaged Great Northern Diver settled on the water and this afternoon it was pretty much the same, plus 3 Manx Shearwater. Within the harbour, after this mornings deluge 2 male Osprey were following each other around in the Wareham Channel, and there were 10+ Swift hawking low over Swineham. The Brownsea Lagoon is still hosting 2 Spoonbill, plus 6 Avocet, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit and 4 Mediterranean Gulls.

Male Osprey from (very windy) Summer Safari this afternoon – John Thorp

With the change in weather comes a change in mood. The recent heatwave brought summer vibes and good feeling. Todays drizzle and strong winds mirrored the despair and anger after hearing that the young male White-tailed Eagle that fledged from Dorset last summer, ring number G834, has ‘suspiciously’ gone missing on the North Yorkshire Moors, an area where many sat-tagged birds of prey seem to disappear or tags seem stop working, despite working absolutely fine elsewhere in the country up until that point. You can read the BBC article HERE.

The news article only touches on the potential cause very briefly, by mentioning that the police regularly investigates missing sat-tagged birds of prey on or close to areas associated with game shooting. But in truth, we can all take a very well educated guess as to what has happened to this poor young eagle, which will now just become another sad statistic rather than a fully grown breeding adult, producing young of it’s own.

This isn’t only devastating because of the historic importance of this particular bird, but also because we were there the day this bird was ringed and tagged having kindly been invited by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation to help support on the day. Firstly, we’d like to thank and congratulate both organisations for working so tirelessly on making this project a success, despite these cutting set backs. The project leads Steve Egerton-Read, Imogen Lloyd and Tim Mackrill have done a fantastic job in building and managing the success of this project, and like all conservation projects they need to be built on perseverance and resilience. This bird in particular (plus several more) was viewed and enjoyed by many hundreds of visitors to the area earlier this year as he visited and toured Poole Harbour, and was also witnessed by several school groups during our School Bird Boat project. Regardless of your views on reintroductions, having these birds back in the landscape has generated wide-scale excitement and reinvigorated peoples interest in nature recovery. They help interpret a story of a species bouncing back from extinction, whilst helping build momentum to get even more done.

We won’t shy away from acknowledging what is likely to have really happened, and encourage anyone involved in species recovery,  to keep fighting the fight a never ever give up. All your hard work is starting to have a far greater positive impact than the negative stories like this that appear.

Imogen Lloyd from Forestry England ringing and tagging male White-tailed Eagle G834 last summer – Tim Mackrill

Male White-tailed Eagle G834 back on the nest after ringing and tagging last summer – Tim Mackrill

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!

Another stunning day across the harbour with such a stunning variety of species. Best bird of the day was without doubt a stunning adult Black-crowned Night Heron at Little Sea, Studland which was viewable from the Rees Cox Hide pretty much all day. Despite ‘Night Herons’ becoming increasingly regular across many areas of the UK in recent years, they’re still incredibly rare here in Poole Harbour, although it’s possible they could be going ‘under the radar’ due to their skulky, shy behaviour with the ability to hide in scrub and vegetation around the fringes of freshwater bodies. Elsewhere a Honey Buzzard flew straight over Poole Quay at lunchtime, being mobbed by gulls and there was another (minor) push of Red Kite today with 4 heading north over Brownsea and 7 over Studland. Elsewhere there were 5+ Osprey between the Wareham Channel, Lytchett Bay and Middlebere, including female 6J8 catching a fish in Middlebere. On RSPB Arne Moors there were 2 Great White Egret feeding, the local Marsh Harrier pair were at the west end of the Wareham Channel busy visiting their nest site to feed young, local male White-tailed Eagle G463 was in the Wareham Channel all afternoon scoping out his next meal and on the Brownsea Lagoon there was single Spoonbill plus 4 Avocet, 1 Dunlin and multiple Great Black-back Gull families.

Black-crowned Night Heron – Little Sea Studland – Richard Stephenson

Common Swift – Upper Parkstone – Mick Brooks

Female Osprey 6J8 – Middlebere – Kate Plater

Migrant Red Kite – Central Harbour – Alison Copland

Much cooler now, but pleasantly mild and still good birds around the harbour. There were 2 Little Tern that were moving between the Wareham Channel and Middlebere during the course of the day. It was Osprey madness this morning with four different individuals moving around the west of the harbour, local breeding male 022, newly arrived males 5H3 and 5R0 and then newly arrived female 6J8. On Brownsea Sandwich Terns have been hatching for a couple of days and today 2 Common Tern chicks hatched, plus a Spoonbill was on the lagoon. There was another light passage of Red Kite today with 9 north over the harbour mouth, 6 over Studland and 6 over Swineham. This evening 2 Osprey came in off the sea at Kimmeridge within 20 mins of one another. Finally, we were thrilled to see the fourth egg hatch on the Carey Osprey nest this morning which is brilliant news, and a hat-trick as this is now the third year in a row.

Little Terns – RSPB Arne shoreline – Mark Wright

Female Osprey 6J8 – Middlebere – Alison Copland

All four Osprey chicks at Carey Secret Garden getting a feed

The first Sandwich Tern chicks have arrived on Brownsea, with at least eight counted by the DWT team from the Avocet Hide islands this afternoon! And there was also more promising signs from the new Osprey couple in town (2-year olds 6J8 & 5R0) as early pair bonding continues. Highlights from across a relatively quiet day’s birding around the harbour featured a Honey Buzzard drifting over Canford Heath early afternoon and a Little Ringed Plover on Lychett Fields – the latter noteworthy given their near-complete absence at the site this spring. Out of area, but news of a Roller in New Forest might just spark the motivational inspiration needed to stay out and about, scouring those local patches and keep birding through this heat. Meanwhile slightly closer to home, a Bee-eater at over Durlston CP this morning also provided a splash of colour along the Purbecks.

Recently hatched Sandwich Tern chick, Brownsea Lagoon © Nikki Tutton

Although things were cooling down today in terms of temperature, things were (potentially) hotting up on the Poole Harbour Osprey scene when around 2pm two Ospreys landed briefly on a harbour nest platform. We were able to read one ring number easily enough which was recently returned male 5R0, but the second, which was obviously a female due to the darker, heavier necklace seemed to be wearing a blue ring on the left leg. After a bit of patience we were finally able to read the ring number as ‘6J8’, which has been traced back to this bird being a 2024 female from central, southern Scotland in the Tweed Valley. This is exactly the scenario we’ve been waiting and hoping for as we now have three available males who are in search for newly arrived females. Now its way too late for them to attempt to breed this season, and both are just 2-years old, however if 5R0 is smart and is able to impress her enough to stay, there’s a chance they could stay around the harbour all summer and adopt a nest platform somewhere which would be great news….lets watch this space. In the mean time, there are still two other males (5H3 and 5H6) that are also seeking out females so if a few more were to turn up, it wouldn’t be a bad thing.

The most random sighting of the day goes to a male Red-breasted Merganser which was feeding on the Brownsea Lagoon this morning. Not so random (but still good) was a single Little Tern also on the Brownsea Lagoon. An adult White-tailed Eagle was in the Wareham Channel this morning as were 2 Osprey and 1 Marsh Harrier. This evening 5 Whimbrel flew over Upton.

Female Osprey 6J8 (left) and male 5R0 (right) landing briefly on a harbour nest platform this afternoon

Female Osprey 6J8 briefly showing her blue darvic ring on harbour nest platform this afternoon