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.
There was a lot of buffering in the afternoon but it cleared for evening.
Supper - #1 may have got more but #2 got some bites too - #1 is swallowing in the first snap and that's #2 with Seren's beak offering some white flesh:
There was another supper about an hour later.
Overnight the IR went wrong for several hours:
It recovered:
Whichever osplet this was - impressive!
As you can see, a meal was about to be served.
IMAGICAT
A small triumph for Dylan:
Yeah ......... well done dad ....
Thanks Scylla
Hello Bob number 2 and well done dad on the feeding.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
25 May
Dylan flew in with something afoot @ 04:20 but flew almost straight off with it again. It wasn't big or clear enough to ID. Oh, another in-out, then in again and at 05:00 there was a feed, during which both chicks looked very strong and perky:
Dylan brought more fish:
John has had an update on Blue 469 who intruded at Clywedog yesterday; a 2 year old returner from "a nest in North West England".
It's been looking like a happy, busy household:
The way Seren was behaving, and the fact that I couldn't see egg #3, I thought I might have missed a hatch in progress at switchover time, so recorded this from YT rollback - still just the 2 osplets and they look even better on YT than they do on my recordings
26 May
The IR is definitely broken - fortunately the nights are short and will remain so for a month or two.
Only one was bovvered: