Ospreys in Wales The First Ten Years

About this book

For hundreds of years during the last millennium, Wales had been devoid of breeding ospreys. Not since the last ice age some 11 000 years ago, had such a vast amount of time passed without this enigmatic bird of prey nesting and breeding in the Principality. Then, in 2004, the first osprey chick in centuries fledged a nest in Mid Wales and since then, thankfully, ospreys have successfully bred in Wales every year for the following decade. The story of the osprey's revival as a breeding species is one of the greatest conservation success stories of recent times. Persecuted for hundreds of years to the brink of extinction in the British Isles, the osprey has fought back against adversity and now has a strong foothold in Scotland once again. At the start of this century this iconic bird of prey started to nest south of the border and in 2004, finally nested in Wales.

Contents

Introduction
The History of Ospreys in Wales   iii
Persecution in the UK   vii
Ospreys in the Modern World   ix
A Personal Relationship   xii
Photographing Ospreys   xv

2004
Buses   1
The Discovery   2
Who’s Who?   3
The Rutland Translocation Project   4
What’s Your Name?   5
Disaster   8
Working Together   9
Building for the Future   10
Welshpool   12

2005
In at the Deep End   15
The Ospreys Return   17
Operation Pandora   22
Pont Croesor   25
Ecstasy   28
From Strength to Strength   29

2006
Extended Honeymoon   33
The Only Pair of Ospreys in Wales   35
A Scottish Trip   36
Tri Chynnig I Gymro   38
Bittersweet   41
A Community Affair   46

2007
Lights, Camera, Action   49
Who Are You?   52
Seeing is Believing   54   
Protecting 24:7
Lightning Strikes Twice   59
Ringing Success   61

2008
Pioneering Ospreys   65
Protecting in the Dry   66
Ospreys Everywhere   67
The Holy Grail   69
The Dyfi Dynasty   73
A Welsh Osprey Returns   75

2009
A New Start   78
Confusing Ospreys   81
Monty   83
Scraggly   85
The Odd Couple   87
Glaslyn Grandchildren   90
Yellow Gold   92

2010
Mirror Image   94
A Hat-trick of Hat-tricks   96
Another returnee   97
Ospreys Everywhere on the Dyfi   99
Scraggly Returns   102
Black 80   104

2011
So Many Questions   106
Monty returns   107
Flaming Nora   108
Bonding Together   112
Ospreys of Higher Resolution   113
Glaslyn Record Breakers   114
Making History   118
Practicing New Behaviours   119
Einion, Dulas & Leri   120
On Track for Africa   124

2012
The Big Pull   128
And Then There Were Three   134
Another Glaslyn Osprey – White 91   135
The Perfect Storm   137
The Intervention   143
Ceulan   147
The Scottish Trip Part II   150

2013
Where’s Nora?   156
Females Everywhere   157
Another Glaslyn Osprey Returns   161
And Then There Were Five   164
Happy Tenth Anniversary   165
Glesni’s Reign   167
Clarach and Cerist   170
The Search Party   173

2014
A Room with a View    179
Blue 24 and Dai Dot    180
The Big Fight   185
Under New Management    188
Come in White 91     191
High Fives – A Fifth Glaslyn Osprey Breeding     193
Glaslyn Empire Building    194
Dyfi Double     196
Gwynant and Deri     199
Dai Dot   204

Stats
Marmite   209
Glaslyn and Dyfi Key Dates   210
Glaslyn and Dyfi Egg Data   212
Glaslyn and Dyfi Chick Data   214
Dyfi Sightings and Glaslyn Offspring   216
Welsh Osprey Nests   218
Dyfi Fish Stats   220
Fish Pies   222

And Finally...
The Legacies   224
Superospreys   229
The Monty Mystery   232
The Next Ten Years   235

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