First of four juvenile ospreys takes flight

The first of four juvenile ospreys, hatched as the result of a reintroduction programme in Dorset, has taken flight.

Female CJ7 and male 022 laid four eggs in April at a nest site near Wareham for the third year in a row.

The birds were the first to take up residence in the area as a result of the project led by charity Birds of Poole Harbour.

On Tuesday at 16:00 BST, female 6T6 - which hatched in late May - became the first bird to fledge.

The chicks were ringed on 1 July, with all four presumed to be female.

Conservationists had to scale a 30m (100ft) tree to reach the nest where the chicks were weighed and measured.

Birds of Poole Harbour founder Paul Morton said, after flying for the first time, ospreys generally return to the nest three to four times a day for a month to get fed.

The juveniles usually leave between August and September, travelling to west Africa where they remain for a few years, before returning to Dorset when they are ready to breed.

Birds of Poole Harbour and Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation began the reintroduction programme in 2017 with the aim of establishing a breeding population on the south coast.

Up to 14 osprey chicks were relocated from Scotland and released in the Poole Harbour area each year until 2021.

CJ7 and 022 had successfully bred at the nest site at Careys Secret Garden for three consecutive years, rearing three young in 2023, four in 2024 and a further four in 2025.

They were the first ospreys to breed on England's south coast in 180 years.

Birds of Poole Harbour said laying four eggs was "quite a rare occurrence in ospreys".

A second pair - male 374 and female 1H1 - are in their second year of breeding and hatched three healthy chicks, all believed to be male.