The good news, or the bad news?

The good news, or the bad news? Some choice items in both categories today (Sunday 20th June).

Bad first. The brilliant little camera that has been giving us a view directly into the nest for the last week started to swing round on its mounting a couple of days ago, and today, in quite a stiff breeze, it swung right around to point into the vegetation, so now all we can see is leaves. It's a big disappointment, and it doesn't seem likely we can get up there to fix it, because the chicks are three weeks old now and well along in the process of developing their flight feathers. Any disturbance at this stage is likely to frighten them into flying prematurely, with disastrous results.

So, we're making the best of things in the hide with a DVD recorded yesterday that shows them being fed. It's better than nothing for people who find telescopes difficult.

But never mind all that - what about the good news?

Marvellous views of two ospreys at the top of the lake in warm sunshine this morning. This is a big step forward - all our sightings so far have been of single birds, but these two seemed very much a pair. First, a single bird, probably a female, showed up just after 6:00 am, circling over the water in front of the peregrine cliff, apparently looking for fish. Then, as the peregrine chicks were being fed just after 10:00, two ospreys appeared. Fabulous birdwatching - an adult peregrine in full view on the ledge, tearing up a carcase to feed the three downy white chicks, all standing up eagerly to take their share, and at the same time, the sun glinting on the coppery backs of two ospreys swinging around in the air together against a background of blue skies and June forests. One of them briefly went into the water at the extreme end of the lake, just out of view from the hide, but didn't seem to catch anything. At one point they got too close to the cliff and one of the peregrines came charging out to see them off the premises. After all this, four visitors who were in the hide at the time went on their way delighted, saying they wouldn't be back later because nothing could match what they had just seen! But an hour later, it happened again - two ospreys and a fiercely parental peregrine dogfighting right in front of us.

So - for next year's Date With Nature, what do you think? The Ospreys of Lake Vyrnwy? Watch this space!