Impertinent Intruder then Technical Hitches
Dancing in the dark. Syfaddan descends from his display flight with a partially eaten fish.
Saturday 11th April began with sky dancing. The cameras had not yet switched to daylight mode but Clogwyn was looking skyward, watching Syfaddan displaying above her, his calls clearly audible. Soon he arrived on the nest with the partially eaten fish he’d been proudly showing off but it was not taken up by Clogwyn and he flew off with it a little while later. There were two further fish deliveries during the day which she accepted. After briefly being spooked from the nest by close flying geese, Clogwyn and Syfaddan returned and set about their nest building. The weather was windy and wet and this rather hampered many of their mating attempts.
Intruder Blue 3H6 arrives to an empty nest - but not for long
The next day saw a very confident intruder land on the nest. Clogwyn had left the nest with a fish at 11:20 and Syfaddan flew off ten minutes later. At 11:56 a ringed osprey landed on the empty nest and took a look around. It was Blue 3H6, a female that hatched at Rutland Water in 2023. A minute later, Clogwyn returned carrying her fish and despite mantling and then wing flapping, 3H6 took the fish from her with relative ease. She proceeded to eat it then and there on the nest, almost as though it had been deliberately brought in for her. Meanwhile Clogwyn continued to flap, sometimes with her wing right over the back of 3H6, who just carried on eating regardless. Another minute passed and Syfaddan arrived carrying nest lining. At 11:59 3H6 took off, taking the fish with her. The residents stayed on the nest initially but after a couple of minutes, first Syfaddan and then Clogwyn left, vocalising their displeasure. Disturbed calls were later heard again (off camera) suggesting that the unwelcome stranger had yet to leave the territory.
Blue 3H6 eats the stolen fish while Clogwyn mantles and wing flaps.
Monday the 13th turned out to be very unlucky. After a quiet night, the cameras began to buffer at 5am and became unwatchable. Camera watching shifts were cancelled for the duration of what was hoped would be a brief outage. UVO have been here before, in the last days of the 2025 season, and so the towpath Watchers knew what to do. Usually their task is to record only what happens off the nest, but now they would need to record as much activity as they could, wherever it took place, and in whatever weather was thrown at them.
At 10:15 Watchers on the towpath observed Clogwyn mantling at an unidentified osprey flying high above the nest before it disappeared down the valley. They also saw Syfaddan chase what was possibly a second osprey visitor up river at 11:15.
There were three fish brought in by Syfaddan during the course of the day and both birds fed well. It was also noted that ravens were spending a large amount of time in and around the nest tree.
On Tuesday morning, Watchers arrived to hear Clogwyn loudly food soliciting from the edge of the nest. Sure enough, Syfaddan was in the ash tree tucking into a good-sized fish. When he brought it to the nest, Clogwyn started off eating it there and only later took it to the National Grid perch while Syfaddan went to and fro with nest materials. Both appeared to be absent late morning, but could just have been perched out of view. They returned to the nest after midday and several mating attempts were made.
Clogwyn on the 'Valley Oak' - viewed from the towpath
Wednesday morning, and Clogwyn was on the edge of the nest with Syfaddan in the ash tree preening. A short while later he was bringing nest material. Clogwyn had a slight altercation with the ravens when one perched on the cup cam and the other slipped round behind her. Meanwhile, Syfaddan had been fishing again, and after eating his share he brought the rest to Clogwyn. She flew around with it and brought it back to the nest but did not appear to eat it. Later on, she went to the river and came back with wet plumage, having had a bath. She perched for a while below the ivy tree before returning to the nest. The pair then continued with nest preparation and several mating attempts.
Thursday saw a slightly different division of labour for a while, with Syfaddan delivering nest materials while Clogwyn stayed on the nest arranging them. Syfaddan was twice dive-bombed by a carrion crow, but apart from a shake of his wings he did not react. He did, however, spend a while chasing a red kite and then two, before a buzzard joined in the aerobatics. Syfaddan also patrolled the area around Newton Farm, when an intruding osprey appeared there, but it departed fairly quickly.
Clogwyn on the 'Valley Oak' - viewed from the towpath
Then came Friday. More of the same nest preparations but with much more attention to soft materials in the centre and nest cupping in readiness to receive the first egg, which may not be too long now. Shortly after 4pm came the news everyone had been waiting for - no not the egg! The cameras were finally LIVE again. There was now a real prospect that the laying of the first egg of 2026 would not be missed after all. A cause for huge sighs of relief all round.
UVO would like to thank and acknowledge the Watchers who attended the viewpoint for keeping information and data coming.
Special thanks must go to Wildlife Windows for successfully restoring the livestream camera feeds. Diolch yn fawr.