Young Birders - Carey Osprey Tour and Bird Ringing Demonstration

Join us for an exclusive experience for our BoPH Young Birders: a chance to view the nest of CJ7 and 022, the first breeding Ospreys in southern England in more than 180 years, and attend a fascinating bird ringing demonstration led by the resident ringers of the Carey Estate.

We'll start the morning in the Walled Garden of Carey's Secret Garden, explaining why the Carey Estate is so significant and what rewilding work is being carried out. Then, we'll walk down to the Carey floodplain to meet the resident bird ringers. They'll explain what the bird ringing scheme is, why it's important, what data is collected, and hopefully there'll be a chance to see a selection of species in the hand. 

After the ringing demonstration, you'll be guided by the BoPH team up to our Osprey viewing platform. The viewing platform is situated 350m away from the nest to ensure the birds are not disturbed, so we will have plenty of binoculars and telescopes on hand if you haven't got your own.  We'll talk in-depth about the Osprey Project and have the chance to hopefully, all being well, see adults and recently fledged young. The platform is also a great vantage point for seeing other birds of prey, like Hobby, Red Kite, Goshawk, and White-tailed Eagle. 

What to bring

Please dress suitably for the weather conditions and bring appropriate footwear like sturdy walking boots.

Travel

We will meet at the walled garden in Careys Secret Garden to start the event at 9am. There will be volunteers on hand to guide you down from the car park to the walled garden. The gardens are a 30 minute walk from Wareham Train Station. Local travel costs can be reimbursed on request. 

Key Information:

• Please be aware that the tour involves a 1km round walk on uneven ground with a moderate incline, so we advise wearing sturdy shoes.
• Directions to Careys Secret Garden are included on your ticket. Please note that you are not required to print your ticket as we will use a digital guestlist for checking you in.
• Please ensure to arrive at the meeting point in the walled garden 15 minutes before the event, where you will be greeted by a member of the BoPH team.
• There are toilet facilities onsite.
• Please bring snacks and a drink with you as the cafe onsite will be closed.
• We are currently working to improve disabled access for our Osprey tours, but due to the incline and ground condition unfortunately the route to the Osprey platform is not suitable for wheelchair access.

Safeguarding

Please note that for this event, we will not be providing adult tickets to accompany the Young Birders. As this is a specifically funded event for 13-18s to make this no charge and we have limited spaces available, we want to offer as many as possible to the young people. We will have 2 members of staff present at the event with all relevant safeguarding training. We also find that the Young Birders interact, learn from each other and ask more questions when parents are not present. If there are specific circumstances that mean a parent must attend we can make accommodations, but you must make sure to let us know beforehand. We hope this makes sense, please get in touch with us if you have any questions.

Please make sure to complete the following consent form if you intend to book a Young Birders Place on the event.