Travelling along the bumpy track, the misty morning airlifts and unravels a symphony of bird song. I’m in Dorset, at Carey’s Secret Garden. As events assistant at Birds of Poole Harbour I’m privileged to be leading osprey tours at this wonderful site. This is a stunning pair of birds, and these tours offer the only opportunity for the public to see them.
As we walk towards the viewing platform, high-pitched notes come from the treetops of this coniferous woodland – a spotted flycatcher, characteristically perched on the end of a branch. Despite only weighing about 17 grams, it has not long flown back from Africa. Some will travel nearly 7,000km from their wintering grounds, which can be as far south as Namibia.
After getting distracted by singing firecrests far up in the canopy, we reach the platform. We can see the celebrity pair of ospreys – CJ7 (the female) and O22 (the male) – on their nest in the distance. This devoted couple bred for the first time in 2022, the first ospreys to have bred in southern Britain in nearly 200 years. Translocation of juveniles from Scotland has aided the process of them beginning to establish in the south.
Males will do all the fishing as soon as the eggs are laid, meaning the female is reliant on him to provide for the whole family, but there is plenty of easy prey nearby, as Poole Harbour is full of fish, including one of their favourites, grey mullet. The group is rapt as we watch CJ7 looking down at her newly hatched chick. The webcam enables us to see right into the nest.
A beautiful descending song alerts me to the presence of woodlarks. They breed in a tussock close to the platform, allowing for amazing views of this scarce species. With multiple broods throughout the summer, they are preparing for another batch of spiky-haired young.
As I pack up, 022 flies back on to the nest and presents CJ7 with a fish; with potentially four chicks to feed throughout the summer, this will be the first of many.
• Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary
