09/05/2023
Only half an hour away from us, and well worth a visit…there’s a lovely cafe too!!
Science Sunday
We have seven high-resolution 4K cameras on and around the Dyfi nest.
These provide us with a detailed picture of the behaviours and ecology of our ospreys each year. They are also amazing at capturing visiting ospreys - even the ‘danglers’ that are only happy to show a foot or a leg before being ushered away by Telyn or Idris. That's often enough for a positive ID.
We get more and more intruding ospreys every year - this is a far cry from say 15 years ago when another ringed osprey in the area was a champagne-opening event.
As the Welsh population grows, the breeding territories act as an attractant to new, young birds looking to settle and breed in the vicinity of successful nests.
Male ospreys are ‘philopatric’, meaning they tend to return to the colony/vicinity of their birth to breed themselves - Tegid, Dinas and Aeron all good examples of Dyfi males that have returned to breed in Wales, all within around an hour’s flight from the Dyfi nest.
Over 99% of the world’s osprey population built their own nests, but we have several man-made platforms in Wales; a highly successful conservation tool to attract new birds, facilitating breeding dispersal and population expansion.
Here are the four ringed ospreys we have sighted already this season (there are many more that have been unrigned):
INTRUDER (RINGED) LIST 2023:
1. Blue 🟦 Z5 – 18th April. A 2020 female - Tegid's daughter from private north Wales nest (Friends of the Ospreys).
2. Blue 🟦 379 – 1st May. Female from Poole Harbour (2021), so our first two-year old of the season.
3. Blue 🟦 KA5 "ROLI" – 1st May. Blue 24’s son from Brenig (2019).
4. Blue 🟦 KC1, 3rd May. A 2019 male from private north Wales nest (Friends of the Ospreys).
Hopefully 2021’s Dysynni and Ystwyth are on their way….
