The Poole Harbour Translocation Thread for 2018-2019

Continued from     here

This is the thread which will cover the second year of the osprey translocation to Poole 

  • Thank you for the link Alison. Just enjoyed the Podcast.

  • Do you know how many of the youngsters are boys and how many are girls?  

    The original Rutland translocation consisted mainly of young males as it was thought that they would attract passing females.  In the event this proved less successful than hoped. An unringed female paired with 03(97)aka Mr Rutland raising one chick in 2001 and failing in 2002. Two of the minority of translocated females returned and bred in 2003 but by 2005 there was a single breeding female, 05(00), and several unpaired males. A further 11 birds (9 females and 2 orphan males) were translocated in that year but none of these returned to Rutland.

    Hilary J

  • I understand that there are thought to be 10 males and four females.

  • I'll see if I can find out for sure tomorrow morning.

  • HilaryJ said:

    Do you know how many of the youngsters are boys and how many are girls?  

    The original Rutland translocation consisted mainly of young males as it was thought that they would attract passing females.  In the event this proved less successful than hoped. An unringed female paired with 03(97)aka Mr Rutland raising one chick in 2001 and failing in 2002. Two of the minority of translocated females returned and bred in 2003 but by 2005 there was a single breeding female, 05(00), and several unpaired males. A further 11 birds (9 females and 2 orphan males) were translocated in that year but none of these returned to Rutland.

    I think that there were 7 males and one female last year but I am not certain. I have no idea of the sex ratio this year.

    At Urdaibai they seem to have ended up with mostly males.

    The points you make about Rutland are well made. None of the 2005 translocation were ever seen again. The two orphans were chicks fathered by the infamous Orange  VS

  • Tiger, did you mean OVS??  Rutland v LG

    Birdie's DU Summaries 2018   https://www.imagicat.com/

  • SheilaFE said:

    Tiger, did you mean OVS??  Rutland v LG

    Yes   Orange  VS = OVS.   Green 7B evicted EJ from her nest in 2003 and won the dubious prize of Orange VS as a partner. In 2005 some time after chicks were hatched in  OVs's nest  something happened  to Green 7B and   OVS was found with two starving chicks.

    Saturday 23 July

    Three more chicks arrived from Scotland and joined the others on Lax Hill. This is a pair of orphans, 7R and 7S, one female and one male. Roy Dennis has been monitoring this nest regularly and became concerned when the adult female disappeared. He applied for a variation of the licence so that, in this exceptional case, both chicks could be brought to Rutland. There were now 10 Osprey chicks being held in the pens on Lax Hill.

    See   July 2005

    It does not actually mention OVS in that reference  but I know that it was from other sources 

  • Mike B said:

    I understand that there are thought to be 10 males and four females.

    Brittany confirmed that this is correct. The two oldest are both females (013 and 014). The other two numbers I'll confirm later (she wasn't quite sure but the info will be made available soon). 
    All birds seemed well this morning. One had a peck at my hand at feeding time, but the gardening glove proved to be adequate protection! Beautiful mist over the harbour earlier on.
  • It always seems counter intuitive to have more males than females. After all the females are less likely to return to Poole so in reality you need more females than males.

    This was a mistake they made at Rutland and it ended up with single males not having the opportunity to breed. 

    They also have a mainly male population at Urdaibai.