Llyn Clywedog is a reservoir situated near the B4518 road north of Llanidloes, Powys, Mid Wales. The reservoir is owned and operated by Severn Trent Water, with oversight and regulation by Natural Resources Wales. A sailing club and a very active trout fishery operate on the reservoir. The fishery stock the lake with tens of thousands of trout every year.
In 2005 Natural Resources Wales erected an osprey platform; this was eventually occupied in 2014, and has been used every season since then.
In 2022 the unringed osprey known as Dylan returned to the nest for his seventh season as the resident male. Since 2020 the resident female has been Blue 5F(12) (known as Seren - Welsh for Star). She hatched in Rutland in 2012. Previously she had for several years been unsuccessful in attracting the sole attention of a male to a nest at Pont Croesor. The previous unringed female (Delyth) did not return in 2020, and Seren 5F replaced her. In 2020 Dylan and 5F Seren fledged 3 male young, in 2021 (a cold and wet season) only one male fledged, and in 2022 one female and 2 males. 5F Seren has regularly been seen in Africa in winter for many years - she was last reported as seen in the Gambia on 1 February 2023.
In 2022 5F Seren returned to the nest on 26 March; Dylan arrived on 5 April, which is later than he arrived in previous years.
There is no visitor centre or facilities. The nest can be observed from a temporary hide in a layby off the minor road. There is a footpath close to the nest which is closed and blocked off during the nesting season.
The nest is looked after by the area NRW ranger John Williams; he has a blog on this link. There is a more comprehensive history of the site in his blog. John goes well beyond the call of duty to support the ospreys and ensure that the cameras are running etc.
There is an active Facebook group for the nest on this link. The group tries to record all fish deliveries which are collated for analysis.
There are 2 streaming cameras provided by Carnyx Wild. The links for the live stream change every 12 hours, the latest can be seen on the playlist links below.
Camera 1 is a close-up of the nest. - playlist on this link
Camera 2 gives a wider view with two perches - playlist on this link This camera is not being transmitted at the moment due to condensation obscuring the view.
02 May
Early changeovers this morning, I couldn't figure out the nightcam scenes due to glare and poor eyesight, but I don't think anything very significant went on.
Here was Dylan on his long stint, don't know what Seren was doing cos she didn't have a fish:
IMAGICAT
19:14 - nice big fish but smudges on the cam prevented a snap showing it to its full advantage:
A head on fish, huge. Sooper dooper Dylan. Thank you Scylla
03 May
Breezy! Was this a Buzzard flying over? Or ??? (Too slow to be a Goshawk. Please don't tell me it was a corvid.)
Looked like another Osprey to me Scylla
04 May
Rather dry looking piece of fish just delivered and made off with gratefully by Seren:
05 May
06:25 - Dylan brought a little bit of fish for Seren's breakfast:
The cam buffered immediately after Dylan sat down and didn't recover until 07:01. According to me!
Rain, rain, rain.
Seren was back around 07:30.
I'm missing 08:00-09:53 because of you-know-what.
Rain, rain, rain but just after 10:50 some sunshine broke thru.
Phenomena:
A couple of changeovers, Dylan doing his share, and I think he was on the high perch some of the time.
Seren was nearly beside herself when she saw this on its way in - video to follow at end of day:
There was some sustained sun in the evening, the rain stopped entirely... until next time.
The 'orrible stick:
Seren appears to be having a restful night now.
Oh, good, have to have a laugh, that terrible stick demised in the night almost inadvertently by Seren's tail. Many thanks for video and captures Scylla. Huge rain drops over fantastic vista.
06 May
No network all day, couldn't afford to reboot until just now.
Just as I predicted (or hoped!), but it was even sooner - the stick got got rid of
Split-second perch - blink and you missed it:
Fish - yesterday's leftover?
It was a nice chunk, actually:
Missing 08:00-09:13 (you know why) during which time Seren returned.
Tiddler delivered @ 10:00 - Seren didn't bring any back with her:
Half a fish? John had set the cam on long view so it wasn't clear:
Missing 20:00-20:13.
21:43/44 Seren had a flyabout, that was the last activity for the day.