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.
19.40 this evening 555, the youngest of the Clywedog brood of 2022, intruded at Dyfi. So good to see another 2 year old youngster back.
Fantastic news, thank you AG
AG said:19.40 this evening 555, the youngest of the Clywedog brood of 2022, intruded at Dyfi. So good to see another 2 year old youngster back.
Including a little clip from 2022:
(Video title corrected thanks to AG pointing out that I'd called Dylan Idris.)
IMAGICAT
Lovely Scylla thanks - I know these Welsh boy's names are confusing; he is Dylan's son, rather than Idris.
.
AG said:I know these Welsh boy's names are confusing; he is Dylan's son, rather than Idris.
Oops, thanks, AG. It's not the Welsh that confuses me, but Dylan/Idris is a perennial swap-around for me - I must tell Glider - she was so embarrassed when she did it and I don't think she believed that I was even worse!
We'll see if Glider is notified that I've "atted" her?
Wonderful chipping from Idris - I think in 'real' life he'd be a counter tenor. Thanks Scylla
scylla said:. AG said:I know these Welsh boy's names are confusing; he is Dylan's son, rather than Idris. Oops, thanks, AG. It's not the Welsh that confuses me, but Dylan/Idris is a perennial swap-around for me - I must tell Glider - she was so embarrassed when she did it and I don't think she believed that I was even worse! We'll see if Glider is notified that I've "atted" her?
Haha Scylla, yes I thought of me when I read you’d got the names mixed!
I just think we should name all the Welsh boys Dylan!
This was the second perch of the day at 8.03 a.m. this morning. Dylan knows where to fish the Clywedog in unfavourable weather. 30 days since the first egg was laid.
rable weather.
Well done Dylan. It’s getting close to hatching time now, thanks AG.
Eyes peeled for 5F Seren and Dylan - today is day 37 from the laying of egg 1. She had a fish early this morning and chose to eat it on the nest rather than take it to her favourite perch.