Osprey Conservation and Translocation Projects

I was not but now will read back the pages as this topic interests me - Thanks. I became a supporter after attending Roys lectures.

Yes this is a topic that I am very interested in. As you probably know there have been translocations (hacking in the USA) to Rutland and Spain. Also projects in Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

 BTW I sent you a PM.

I am not sure whether this is the appropriate thread for this link - it is not translocation but refers to a new artificial nest being erected to attract migrating osprey in Derbyshire, so could be covered by conservation.

Sooty. There are many views on this. There is a massive amount of work involved in translocation and numerous hurdles to overcome in terms of licensing etc to say nothing of actually caring for the birds before and after release. The Rutland Project was, I believe , the first of its kind in this Country. Hundreds of hours of work, admin and observation are required involving a great deal of cost and many,many volunteers apart from paid staff. Rutland, for a number of reasons was considered the ideal location and so it has proved. Erecting nesting platforms in the hope of attracting birds is one thing. Translocation is a totally different issue. One hope of the Rutland project was to widen the range of the Osprey. I'm not sure they thought Wales would benefit but it did and hence the Dyfi site. There are numerous reports in Southern England of birds staying for longer periods and who knows when one will decide to 'set up home'.

Sooty: As Mike says translocation is no easy task to carry out. If I refer you to this link you will see how complex it actually is. There are many permissions required and consultations with local landowners and fish farms etc. before any licences can be granted. Here is the link:

http://www.ospreys.org.uk/osprey-facts/the-translocation-project/

For sure it is difficult but no more difficult in Dorset than Rutland or anywhere else in world and would sugest much easier than East Scotland Sea Eagle introduction and indeed with how successful other Osprey projects have been very good chance of success as my guess is that Poole Harbour is at least as good for Ospreys as Rutland if not better and would provide a easy place for us southerners to see Ospreys as well.We have two wardens and several volunteers who are as good with visitors as almost anyone.In fact we have all that is needed except the will of RSPB because all the landowners in the area already combine on lots of things with Arne reserve.Several Ospreys already stay for short spells as Poole Harbour is a good fish stock for them and that of course would mean that there is very likely no persecution of them as they would not need to raid local fish farms.

Anyone would be hard pushed to find a better place especially as if all these young Ospreys keep returning to Scotland then numbers seriously increasing mean that fish farms will think there are too many and think persecution may begin.

Sooty I understand your frustration and thought the same thing myself when I became aware that there were artificial nest sites being prepared around Poole. Beside the undoubted expense (much more than the cost of satellite trackers which seem to need their own separate appeals) I think there are a couple of other factors which come into this which may make the experts wonder about the viability of a popuation in that part of Dorset.

I have visted LG (many years ago), Rutland and Kielder this year, and have visited Poole for several reasons over many years. It strikes me the Poole area is much more heavily populated than any of these, and I wonder if the movement of mankind (sailing, ferries, etc.) in the area would be enough to put ospreys off fishing in Poole harbour.

It was also noted on the LG blog this year that Odin was fishing from 5.00 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. when the chicks were young, making use of the long daylight hours in Scotland. Clearly Rutland is much further south and will have shorter days in midsummer, but Rutland Water may make fishing suffciently easy to counterbalance the shorter daylight hours. Does anyone know how far south there are ospreys nesting on the continent - I think it has been said there are no nest sites in France?

I am sure that more colonisation will happen (and probably has happened) in parts of England - it seems that Rothiemurchus has his eye on Cumbria for example - but I'm not sure how far we should go in encouraging them.

AG,  a really good point and very well made... the longer daylight, therefore longer fishing hours and lack of humans in the north.. (that is Cumbria and above) must be more attractive to any wild animal..

I'd love to see Osprey fishing in every river from Lands end to John'o'Groats.. but it is well and truly up to the birds. We can do what we can to encourage them but the decision where to nest and fish lies with them.

Hi AG & Black Jaguar, interesting thoughts; however "down south" maybe the slightly shorter daylight hours would be compensated for by the lack of extreme weather conditions (late snow, winds etc) that they get in Scotland. Certainly most of the US Ospreys are at a lower latitude than Scotland. In answer to AG's question there is a growing population of Ospreys in the Loire Valley rowahl-pan-hal.pagesperso-orange.fr/Dynamiqueanglais.htmas well as a number in Corsica, a large population in Germany & trans-located populations in Spain (Andalusia) & Tuscany.

Also in the US the numbers of Ospreys mean there are Ospreys breeding in bays of large cities with large amounts of boat traffic  There is an interesting section on artificial nest building including Roy's thoughts on Ospreys & their acceptance of Humans on his site http://www.roydennis.org/osprey/index.asp?id=90