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.
Not long until the first fledging.
If we click on the question mark in the blue box, Seren’s flight followed by the chicks can be seen. It’s brilliant Scylla!
Glider said:If we click on the question mark in the blue box
I don't see a blue box or a question mark, Glider
Thank you for taking the trouble
IMAGICAT
Oh, that’s strange. This is what I see Scylla, I’ve got 3 of them and they all show the gif?
Well at least one way or another, everyone will see your image.
scylla said:I got interrupted by the arrival of my new telly, so I lost about 3 hours as well as my mind - you know me and smart gadgets
My thoughts are with you Scylla, dreading having to buy another smart telly after the brouhaha with the last one
Can see your very clever GIF by just clicking on any box!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
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12 July
Mid-morning red fish - Valerie says it's a Perch:
(Several intrusions, chicks pancaked.)
One hour later - 8B3 FLEDGED !!!
11:34 - Someone off and on perch - pity it's still focused on nest:
The 2 unfledged have been lively, especially 8B4:
This was 8B3 landing back on the nest at early teatime 16:02:
Great news, thanks Scylla. The season is ‘flying” by!
13 July
Fab breakfish just delivered - it's fatter than it looks here:
I've uploaded belated fledges in the wrong order (shades of Eric & Andre!). I got so far behind, then found bits missing, had to record from rollback and got in a heckuva state, my head is spinning.
8B4's accidental fledge, with sound, which was about 10 seconds out, unsuccessfully synced:
8B5 nearly had a mishap, clinging on under the nest. If you are on Facebook I hope you'll be able to see the little movie I've linked in the YT Comments.
And this morning, another flyabout for 8B5,which I did because I've been so out-of-it that I wasn't sure if that was his fledge - but it wasn't!:
EDIT
At last we've got the perch cam focused on the perch! And this morning, 8B3 was there being very gobby
And FAB capture too Scylla. Thank you