A PAIR of Ospreys have hatched young at a secret nest site in Poole Harbour for the first time in southern Britain for 200 years.

The successful hatching is a result of an Osprey reintroduction program that's being carried out by Dorset based charity Birds of Poole Harbour and conservation organisation the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation.

The reintroduction, which began in 2017, is aimed at restoring a population of Osprey to Southern Britain after it was historically eradicated across much of Western Europe.

READ MORE: Ospreys to return to Poole Harbour thanks to reintroduction programme

The adult pair of Osprey known as female CJ7 and male 022 first met in Poole Harbour in May 2021 and instantly made a connection.

CJ7 had already established a nest the previous year, but had no mate to try and breed with, meaning she spent the whole of 2020 on her own.

With no breeding in 2021, the pair both left on migration in September that year. The pair arrived back in April and got straight down to business.

Paul Morton, of Birds of Poole Harbour charity, said: "Words don't even begin to describe what this means to us, and of course Osprey conservation in Western Europe.

"We started our licence application in 2015, and the actual reintroduction in 2017, and the prospect of actually having wild hatched chicks in a nest always felt so far away.

"But here we are, with an official birthday of June 1, and we now have the first wild Osprey chick for Southern Britain in 200 years, right here in Poole Harbour."

It's thought that the pair laid three eggs in the nest during April, meaning the other two should hopefully hatch over the Bank Holiday Jubilee weekend.

It's predicted that once all three chicks have hatched safely, male 022 will become sole provider of fish until the chicks fledge after about 50 days.

Once fledged the chicks will stay for several more weeks, flying around and imprinting on the local area, learning that Poole Harbour is home, before instinct then kicks in and they'll leave on migration.

After two years, pending their safe migration down to West Africa and back the youngsters should then return to Dorset and begin thinking about starting families of their own, therefore seeing the beginnings of a new colony in Southern Britain.