The War on Wildlife Project was created in the offices of Birds of Poole Harbour (BoPH), and while we’re not intertwined in any meaningful way we are of course colleagues (and friends) and keep an eye on what each other is doing. Naturally enough we here at WoW have been wondering how the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown would impact the ongoing Osprey translocation work in Poole Harbour (we’ve posted before about BoPH and the work they do).

Recently BoPH announced that the Project is indeed to go ahead:

Many of our keen followers have been interested in whether the Osprey Translocation Project will be able to go ahead this season, in what will be the fourth year of the project. We’ve been busy working behind the scenes to see how we can make it work, planning new strategies to ensure the safety of both staff and the birds. We’re pleased to announce that the project will be going ahead a bit later in the season, with a small team working intensively on the project from now until the autumn. Sticking to the course of the 5-year project increases the likelihood of a successful reintroduction and it has taken great consideration as to whether it was feasible to carry out in light of Covid-19. We are looking forward to the start of the season and are pleased to be delivering some positive action, despite the hardships this year.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the project this year, we look forward to updating you later in the season.

This really good news. There are of course plenty of critics of projects that introduce birds of prey into new habitats (unless that project means removing the birds of prey off their bloody grouse moors first when they’re all for it), but Poole Harbour is already used by migrant Ospreys, there are plenty of fish (unlike us, Ospreys are entirely dependent on eating fish), and – thanks to some extremely hard work by BoPH’s Paul Morton and his team – the local residents are excited not just about seeing ospreys from their front windows but about the tourism opportunities too. It’s a win-win, and anything that paints raptors (and predators in general) in a positive light certainly gets our vote.