Roy Bamford explains some of the history of the Dyfi Osprey Project and which time of year is the best to see the birds.

ALONGSIDE the A487, between Glandyfi and Machynlleth, the Dyfi Osprey Project, its website and facilities have certainly been appreciated by a wide range of the general public.

I remember the first nest platform being erected in the top of a tall spruce tree about a kilometre downstream of the present site and being phoned by a local farmer, who had seen a large bird on the nest.

This turned out to be a bit of a false alarm as it proved to be a Canada goose - amazing where these birds get to and quite a feat of aeronautics to land safely!

My knowledge of the present Osprey Project site goes back much further, to the late 70s / early 80s when, with the Forestry Commission (FC), I looked at a relatively small, dense spruce plantation with a view to its wildlife/conservation potential. Clearfelling and eventual conversion to such as the Osprey Project were never on the agenda at that time.

It was difficult to penetrate and the conifers were well grown, having been planted on ploughed ridges and further freed from a high water table by a system of ditches and dykes. These had a sparse growth of phragmites (common reed) along them but the only plant I remember of note was the Royal fern (Osmunda regalis), not exactly common in the wild, but occurring locally and in some quantity nearby at Cors Fochno.

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