Ospreys in Wales

Ospreys started nesting in Wales in 2004, with pairs in two locations, close to the Severn near Welshpool and in the Glaslyn valley near Porthmadog. The Severn pair raised one young but have not returned to breed there; the Glaslyn nest tipped in a gale and the young died. The Glaslyn pair – the same two birds – did not give up but have returned each year since and always reared young.

Thousands of people have been to this site to view the nest and watch close-up pictures on screen. Emyr Evans was the project manager for the RSPB on the Glaslyn for the first few years, and then moved to the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust reserve on the Dyfi when Ospreys started prospecting there. After great dramas with flooding, torrential rain and interference by visiting ospreys, this pair has also become established and is well seen from a new HLF-funded observation tower reached by a boardwalk across the Cors Dyfi marshes.

Emyr has now written and published the story of the first 10 years, as a handsome coffee-table book with superb illustrations and the complete history of the sites, the people who made it all possible, the individual ospreys, young reared, their migration to West Africa in the autumn as shown by satellite-tagged birds from the Dyfi, and really everything you might want to know about this really exciting story. Just the book to cheer you up during a wet, windy, Welsh winter.

It costs £25 if ordered direct from Emyr; post-free if you place your order by Jan 18th 2015, otherwise a small charge. Full details and how to order: www.ospreysinwales.com

Dynasty of the Glaslyn Ospreys

I called in to pay my respects to the pair of ospreys now into their tenth breeding season. Mother was sitting on the three eggs laid on the 6^th, 9^th and 12^th of April and a fish had just been delivered. After the disastrous 2004 season when both chicks were killed, in a storm which broke the nest, the parents have gone on to rear twenty one chicks so far.

What I liked most of all was the family tree showing the records of five of their offspring. Yellow 37, born 2005, was identified in Northumbria last year where she reared two chicks. Black 80, a male born 2006, has taken up residence in Dumfries, where his Dad used to be. So far he has fathered nine chicks. 

If 1 in 3 of the Glaslyn osprey chicks goes on to produce an average of 2 chicks a year for 25 years ...... that’s a heck of a lot of ospreys.

This is the last year of the Glaslyn osprey site being run as an RSPB affair and next season it will be in the hands of a local community venture. Whoever is in charge there is always the need for volunteers and at the moment a few extra hands are required – if you can spare the time for guarding the nest or for meeting the visitors, please get in touch with Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife at bywydgwylltglaslyn@gmail.com