Full story
Pioneers reshape recovery
A 54-year study of ospreys in northern Scotland found that rare long-distance settlers are disproportionately important in expanding the breeding range and founding new populations.
“analysed 54 years of recolonisation between 1954 and 2007”
The research, led by Brittany C. Maxted of Bournemouth University and Birds of Poole Harbour with colleagues from Bournemouth University and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, analysed 54 years of recolonisation between 1954 and 2007 and was published in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
Ospreys disappeared as a confirmed breeding species from Scotland in the early 20th century, with the last confirmed pair recorded in 1916, and the study says modern recovery began when a pair nested at Loch Garten in 1954.
Across the study period 149 nest sites were identified, with 132 occupied by a breeding pair in at least one year, and the population reached a maximum of 73 occupied nests in 2004.
The study describes the spread as 'stratified diffusion', where long periods of local growth and infilling are punctuated by rare long-distance jumps that create new breeding clusters around the pioneers.
Translocation mirrors nature
Bournemouth University PhD researcher Brittany Maxted said ospreys usually like to nest where there are already other ospreys, but in Scotland a small number of pairs chose to settle more than 20km from all the others, in areas with no competition.
Maxted told the Bournemouth Echo that "Through translocation we can essentially create our own pioneering birds to kickstart a new population," linking the study’s findings to conservation action.
The Bournemouth Echo described the first breeding pair in Poole Harbour as a male named 022 translocated from Scotland and a female named CJ7, and it said that in 2022 they hatched two chicks of their own.
The keysnews account said the research found that "a small number of pairs were choosing to settle more than 20 kilometers away from all the others," and it quoted Tim Mackrill saying the study highlights how spatial expansion relies on long-distance dispersal.
The Times of India added that conservationists began moving young ospreys from Scotland to Dorset in 2017 and that five years later the birds bred in southern England for the first time since 1847.
What’s at stake next
The study’s findings were presented as having direct implications for conservation, including the idea that artificial nest provision can help birds settle beyond the existing range even though the study could not determine whether it increased the rate of expansion.
“The authors also argue that translocation can effectively replicate the rare pioneering movements”
The Rare Bird Alert account said the authors argue that translocation can effectively replicate the rare pioneering movements that drive natural recolonisation, and it called encouraging long-distance dispersal by males a particular management priority.
In Dorset, the Times of India described a joint project between 2017 and 2021 that moved healthy seven-week-old Scottish osprey chicks to Dorset, with the young birds kept temporarily in special cages at Poole Harbour until they could fly.
The Bournemouth Echo said the original Poole Harbour pair has successfully raised chicks for three consecutive years and that this summer the pair hatched four chicks that will remain in the area until they migrate in early September.
The Times of India reported that a second pair started breeding away from Poole Harbour and that the first osprey born in Dorset in the wild built a nest in the East Midlands, helping connect the southern population with the population at Rutland Water.