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 2004 the Forestry Commission erected an osprey platform; responsibility for this was taken over by Natural Resources Wales and it was eventually occupied in 2014, and has been used every season since then.
In 2023 the unringed osprey known as Dylan returned to the the original nest (Nest 1) for his eighth 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, in 2022 one female and 2 males fledged. In 2023 2 males hatched but one (8B1) was predated by a goshawk before fledging. 5F Seren has regularly been seen in Africa in winter for many years - she was last seen in the Gambia on 8 February 2024.
In 2023 5F Seren returned to the nest on 25 March; Dylan arrived on 27 March. Both birds returned to the nest on 28 March 2024.
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.
In 2023 a natural nest (Nest 2) was found towards the southern end of the reservoir. From this nest Blue Z5, a 2020 bird from private nest in North Wales and an unringed male produced a single female chick who was ringed 7B9. Z5's father was blue Z1, a 2016 chick from the Dyfi, whose parents were Blue 12 (Glesni) and the unringed Monty. Nest 2 can be seen (with good optics) from the viewpoint at Bwlch y Gle.
The nests 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. John is planning that nest 1 will have one fixed and one PTZ camera this season - the live feeds are on a new link every 12 hours, which is accesible from https://www.youtube.com/user/CarnyxWild . Nest 2 will not have any streaming camera coverage. All images are copyright Natural Resources Wales.
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.
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05 April
I'm posting this because right afterwards it went into permanent buffer mode.
Nothing to be proud of, Dylan
IMAGICAT
06 April
We just have the nest cam this morning - to save resources?
There's been an intruder about, Seren was watching carefully and had been chipping:
Both cameras back on at Clywedog, where the season moves on fairly serenely despite the weather. John has just now zoomed the PTZ camera onto 5F Seren as she eats a fish on the perch. Fab close-up view.
09 April
Getting on for 6 o'clock in the evening, Dylan sorts a slab of bark, then the two of them just stand there for ages and ages, looking, then they both suddenly fly off - chasing or not?
m
10 April
What a vile day! Here was Seren flying with Dylan's tiny piece of fish, he's in front:
11 April
12 April
Early morning mating - instant snap, you'll have to take my word for its success:
13 April
As per title, a perfect start to their day - matings and an early fish, what more could we ask for?
Thank you for the updates and vids Scylla and All!
Congratulations to Seren and Dylan and John on the 1st Egg at 18.30!
Not very good screen shots as raining sorry!
Thank you, LAM - the rain spoiled your screenshots and the wind ruined my video !!! I tried to adjust but it's too strong and "vibraty".
Anywsay - after a perfect start to Seren & Dylan's day, here's the perfect end
It struck me that the egg looks small ??? We'll have to wait for the next one to compare.
14 April
Dylan's early-morning takeover. The egg doesn't look so small today
Morning Scylla and Everyone
Thank you for the video Scylla it captures the moment brilliantly lol!
We can't help the weather!
The egg does look small in the 1st video but agree in the 2nd it looks bigger!
All looks calmer today thank goodness!
Meant to post on 12 April at 14.45 Dylan brought Seren a frog for her lunch she was not impressed and tipped it over board at 14.55....... Sorry so late in posting this event!