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.
Intruder - Seren is still sitting but mantling and looking upwards. (I'm not "working" yet today, just looking thru lovely Osprey files and online videos.)
EDIT - she's looking sideways in this one, for more dramatic effect:
IMAGICAT
08:00-14:00 is missing here, usual reason.
Prior to the switchover, Osplet got several feeds - or attempted feeds - Seren's got to familiarise herself with being a Mama again:
Second chick hatched around 6.00 a.m. this morning. EDIT Good view of both of them on this morning's feed when 5F took a comfort break at 8.16.
I cannot find Osplet with a juicy morsel in its beak!
Dylan brought fish:
And ended up flying off with it, none offered to Osplet - I couldn't figure out what Seren was doing - here's the unedited video you can skip thru if interested:
21:28 Dylan brought the fish back but Seren didn't show interest and he ate it himself - just as he flew off @ 21:34 the cam was zoomed out so we couldn't see if he took the tail with him.
22 May
05:55 - Dylan brought and took away fish - he repeated that 2-3 times but Seren just didn't want the fish, it's most puzzling. Poor Dylan really wanted to get to his chick underneath Seren. (The cam was zoomed right out, so early in the morning, picture not very clear.)
I put auto-adjust on this snap, so it's clearer and much brighter colours than the orig:
I'm not sure if Dylan finished the fish that time, it looked like it.
07:10 Dylan was back with a stick.
07:16 Seren picked up a piece of fish, so Dylan didn't take it with him after all. She ate some and then fed the chick:
SYAL.
More good news, terrific. Thanks AK
Unknown said:Scylla it appears that the reason 5F want's interested just before 6 is that bob 2 was hatching. Good view on the day feed at 08.16
I forgot all about this video, I got upset/frustrated with it yesterday because it just wasn't satisfactory... just found 9 clips and have done a quick 10th to finish it off and the devil take the hindmost. I feel so bad not doing justice.
23 May
Early feed:
Then another feed, when Dylan was desperately keen to feed the chicks but I don't think he managed to get a single morsel into a beak - but I could be wrong. I'm giving up doing feed videos, it's too, too laborious and frustrating
Bob too bobble for Dylan at the mo and can hardly keep his precious little head up at all !!
An excellent array of videos , thank you Scylla
scylla said:. I feel so bad not doing justice.
Please don't berate your efforts Scylla, you do many lovely vids of all the key moments which we appreciate so much!