Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife - Glaslyn Ospreys – MAY 2018

Fingers crossed.  It would have been great if he'd taken to 5F but perhaps he found the Pont Croesor nest was too close to Aran's for his liking.

Maybe Clare, do we know exactly how close the nests are apart...I cant remember.

I'm not sure how far apart they are but I think it's telling that Aran tried to chase Gwynant off the secondary nest.

mmmmm....wonder if its as close as blue 24 was to Glesni at the time. In parts of America pairs have to cope with other pairs in close proximity, guess its just the norm there because the osprey population is so much bigger.

I think the two nests here are further from each other than the two Dyfi nests were.

Who issues licences to erect nesting platforms, out of interest?  I'm assuming they can't just be put up anywhere and everywhere.  I would have thought a licensing body would have a say in whether a poorly sited nest could stay where it is.

I think  Dyfi had to apply to have the other nest taken down, so Im sure there is a licensing body. I dont know maybe Gwynant just isnt ready to settle down yet, poor 5f.

Unknown said:

I think  Dyfi had to apply to have the other nest taken down, so Im sure there is a licensing body.

I agree, poor 5F.

Clare, Kari-Anne and anyone else interested,  As I understand it, there are no regulations about who may erect a nest nor about where they may put it nor how it is constructed.  But once the thing is up, then permission must be obtained to knock it down.  There also may be some clause about whether or not it has ever been used as a nest--not sure about that, but both the second nest at Dyfi (now gone, fortunately) and this second nest with 5F have been occupied, of course.  Dyfi did have to apply to remove the second nest there but they only had to wait, not argue with anyone else about it, because Dyfi owned the nest and the land it was on.  Unfortunately, if the BGGW Glaslyn group applied to have the Pont Croesor nest removed, the landowner or the group which erected the PC nest could presumably just say no.  I believe something like this situation did happen awhile back, resulting in the situation today.  Poor 5F.  I trust that if any of this is wrong that someone will correct me, please!  

Regarding American Ospreys, they seem to be far happier about nesting nearer to each other than UK Ospreys.  But space is not one of the issues there; don't forget that the UK is about the same size as an average American State and there are 50 US States.  Of course, not every State has areas which are prime spots for Ospreys, but even so, there is still a huge amount of possible nesting space and space that is close to sources of fish, both coastal and inland.

Mrs G incubating with her usual formidable look. 

© BYWYD GWYLLT GLASLYN WILDLIFE

If it is the same nesting platform that was pointed out to me when I visited in 2014, it is much closer to the visitor centre, than the Glaslyn nest, which is a good distance away from the VC. 

I am sure Glaslyn has published the distance between the two nests, something like 1.1/2 to 2 KM I think, but not sure.   The DYFI platform nest that was removed was much closer to the main nest.