Poole Harbour Ospreys 2024

I went on this morning's Poole Harbour cruise - it was most extraordinary and such miraculous timing, the BoPH team were all animated and glowing, everyone aboard was thrilled to have seen the epic battle between the Osprey and the White-tailed Eagle. That was the highlight, of course, but we saw so much more! Within minutes of setting off, we'd seen about half a dozen Ospreys, and then spotted the WTE perched in a tree. We saw juvenile Ospreys trying and failing to catch fish, sometimes pulling out of their dives at the last minute, other times landing with a loud splash. The weather was perfect, neither hot nor cold, and partly cloudy which helped the team point out where the action was - eg left of the blue patch just above the treeline by the dead tree etc.

We saw a huge flock of Black-Tailed Godwits and then a Peregrine appeared, in definite hunting mode. The Godwits rose up in a cloud and the chase was on. Imagine a murmuration of Starlings - the Godwits looked like a smaller version but moving in the same sort of way, with the bigger darker shape of the Peregrine underneath, chasing. Every now and then the cloud would break into two groups, and the confused falcon would take a few seconds to decide which group to pursue. It was ultimately unsuccessful, but provided a thrilling spectacle. We also saw a Marsh Harrier, hunting low over the reed islands, don't think it got anything either.

Ospreys had mobbed the eagle in its tree, but it just sat there. Eventually they went back to fishing, and one was successful, pulling itself up out of the water with a big Grey Mullet - did you know they swim upside down? No, me neither! So when the Osprey flew off, it had the fish upside down in its talons. But not for long - the WTE left its tree in a hurry and started chasing. The Osprey was aware and held out for as long as possible, but with the huge WTE right on top of it, it dropped its fish, and the eagle immediately went after the fish. Gasps and whoops from all of us aboard! BoPH team said that Osprey was a migrant passing through, as the resident Ospreys - CJ7 & 022 - know where the eagles hang out and would out-fly them and keep their fish, as happened a couple of weeks ago, witnessed by that day's cruise passengers.

Another WTE appeared and flew down to its mate but they weren't allowed to feast on their stolen meal for long, as they were dive-bombed by several juvenile Ospreys. I was watching through binoculars, I didn't even attempt to film it as I knew I couldn't get any detail so I just enjoyed the action - but there were several proper photographers aboard with mile-long lenses and they got perfect shots. One of them was the wonderful Robin Morrison, and below are his photos he tweeted afterwards, retweeted by BoPH and me too. The fine detail he got is unbelievable, I didn't even get that much with my bins. I did get some 40x super slo-mo of an Osprey who flew almost overhead, and the Peregrine chasing the Godwits, and I'll put those up on youtube and post the link when ready.

By the way, the eagles were the one-footed male G463 who's had quite a few adventures since being sat tagged for another RDWF translocation programme, and his mate G466. More here: