I was down to act as a spotter on the Birds of Poole Harbour Osprey cruise focusing on the Wareham Channel in the morning. We left on time at 09:00 for the three hour cruise & headed off for the Wareham Channel with Mark Constantine, Paul Morton & Sam Ryde on board running the commentary. We also had Imogen Lloyd from the Isle of Wight Forestry England Sea-eagle Project on board as a guest visitor. We were quickly heading for Gold Point where Sam had picked out a perched White-tailed Sea-eagle on the beach. It was remarkably unfazed as the bird boat approached. However, this is something I had seen ten days earlier when the resident female was seen sitting on a 'No Landing' sign on the Wareham Channel side of the Arne Peninsula: on a cruise when I hadn't taken my camera.
White-tailed Sea-eagle: Male. Sitting on Arne's Gold Point
White-tailed Sea-eagle: Male. It's tricky to figure out which of the pair it was, until it shuffled on the beach and revealed it only had one foot
After filling our boots with the White-tailed Sea-eagle, Paul remembered it was an Osprey cruise & we departed for the Wareham Channel. It's tricky to be sure how many Ospreys were seen during the day, but I wouldn't be surprised if the total reached around ten individuals. This included a mixture from the local family, as well as, arrivals heading South from other UK pairs. We started with two Ospreys distantly perched in a bare tree on Arne, but quickly saw the first fishing Osprey. This was followed by Ospreys being on view somewhere in the Wareham Channel throughout the morning.
Osprey: Adult. This adult Osprey made a fairly close pass to the boat before heading off to another part of the Wareham Channel to fish. We had plenty of Osprey encounters during the morning, but this was the only one I photographed
As a spotter, my job is to help the passengers see the Ospreys, Sandwich Terns and other Birds & Seals that were feeding in the Wareham Channel, as well as, to provide useful tips on how to identify them. Often this means that once I'm happy that all of the passengers around me are looking at the present species of interest, I switch to scanning in other directions to look for other interesting species. But occasionally, I stopped scanning and took a few photographs.
Sandwich Tern: There were several Sandwich Terns fishing in the Wareham Channel during the day
We spent the morning cruising up & down the Wareham Channel. As well as the many Osprey sightings, we enjoyed flight views of the White-tailed Sea-eagle pair fly along the Channel and land in a waterside tree. Eventually, it was getting close to mid-day & we headed for Poole quayside. Everybody seemed to have had a good morning. For once the weather had been kind with warm, still & sunny weather and jackets and fleeces were taken off in the sun. As we disembarked, Mark & Paul asked if I wanted to go back out on the afternoon boat, as Mark had some pressing work commitments that stopped him going back out. It only took a few seconds to say yes. I headed off to get some lunch before returning in time to join Liz Woodford as a spotter on the 14:00 boat.
Historic Lancaster Bomber: This was the second day of the Bournemouth airshow and we had nice views of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster, as well as, a couple of more distant Spitfires. This was the 'Bird of the Day' for me
Paul & Sam led on the commentary on the afternoon cruise as we motored towards the Wareham Channel. Fairly quickly, Sam decided to get Paul to run through the new Birds of Poole Harbour exercises that they had been practising. Fortunately, the passengers were sensible enough to not all stand up & join in.
Paul & Sam call this the White-tailed Sea-eagle Position
Paul & Sam call this the Buzzard Position. I was too slow to photograph the Osprey and Marsh Harrier Positions
With the exercises over, Paul & Sam's commentary switched to the importance of Poole Harbour and the successful reintroduction of Ospreys into Dorset. Later, Imogen provided more detailed about the Isle of Wight White-tailed Sea-eagle reintroduction project. This was followed during the afternoon with views of multiple Ospreys and more distant views of the White-tailed Sea-eagles chasing Ospreys with fish over the top of the Arne reserve. Unfortunately, these aerial dog-fights weren't close on this occasion.
Osprey: Well it was an Osprey cruise
It would be interesting to know how these numbers in the Wareham Channel compare to a decade ago before the first Osprey releases. Certainly, Ospreys were regular in this area in the Autumn, but there weren't the frequent bird boats to allow a direct comparison of non-local Ospreys over the years. However, it does feel that the presence of the local pair have helped to attract & hold migrating Ospreys these days.
Osprey: Like the morning, there were frequent Osprey sightings throughout the afternoon
On both cruises, we saw Common Seals & Grey Seals. This Common Seal was an absolute beauty as it enjoyed a relaxing rest on the mud bank close to the main channel leading into the River Frome. It was unfazed by our boat, albeit we weren't as close as this photo suggests.
Common Seal: Showing the short and concave snout of a Common Seal. Grey Seals have a longer and more Alsatian-like pointed snout, as well as, being significantly larger. There is a good comparison of the head shapes for the two Seal species in one of my recent Blog Posts
In the end, we were late back to the quayside as Paul decided to head back up the Wareham Channel towards the end of the cruise for another Osprey. It had been another superb Osprey cruise.
Osprey: We saw this individual dive into the water & it spent some time before it resurfaced. Clearly, it had caught a decent-sized fish and had managed to drag it back to the surface
If you haven't been on one of the Birds of Poole Harbour cruises, then I can thoroughly recommend them. But it is best to overdress as it is generally colder on the water than on the quayside. It was a pleasant chance to be able to get down to T-shirts in the glorious afternoon weather.
Osprey: But, it was clearly struggling to get the fish out of the water
The final thought was the Birds of Poole Harbour team would have made a profit from these two cruises. They reinvest this money into inviting schoolkids from across the towns around the local area on a cruise, where they focus on educating the schoolkids about the importance of Poole Harbour and protecting it and its wildlife. This is a free event for the schools, but hopefully it will help excite a passion for Poole Harbour and its wildlife in the next generation.
Osprey: After a long fight, the Osprey decided to drop the fish as it was clearly too large to lift out of the water. Maybe it spent the evening calling to the other Ospreys about 'the one that got away'
