{"id":16113,"date":"2014-04-24T06:45:33","date_gmt":"2014-04-24T05:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=16113"},"modified":"2014-04-23T08:01:14","modified_gmt":"2014-04-23T07:01:14","slug":"dyfi-osprey-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2014\/04\/dyfi-osprey-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Dyfi Osprey Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a lazy day on Monday our Easter Holiday continued with a lazy day on Tuesday as well.<\/p>\n

Swimming in the Sea<\/h2>\n

I started off the day with some work on the computer and then headed over to the beach for a quick 2km swim in the sea. The sea temperature has just about reached double figures for the first time this year and is currently hovering around the 10\u00baC mark. Not warm, but not too cold either and after\u00a0my first open water swim of the year<\/a> last week with Nia, it felt OK today. My hands, feet and chin were still quite cold by the end but it was perfectly bearable.<\/p>\n

Aberdovey and Back<\/h2>\n

Next up was a ride to Aberdovey and back. Nothing too strenuous, just a steady, relatively flat 46 mile ride to spin my legs whilst Morgan went to a friends house and Anna had some time at home alone. There was a group of cyclists heading out along the same route from Aber, so I timed my ride to hopefully coincide with them. I expected to be a few minutes ahead of them on the road and that they would therefore catch me. However, looking at the strava segments afterwards, it looks as though I was a little further ahead of them than I thought and that I was pulling away from them over the ride too. Maybe I should have left later and caught them up instead, but then I would have ended up going hard in order to catch them.<\/p>\n

I did see them whilst on my way back from Aberdovey and did contemplate turning around and joining them but by now I was on my way home so just kept going.<\/p>\n

Dyfi Osprey Project<\/h1>\n

After lunch of homemade leek and potato soup and some more chocolate I decided to make a nice curry for dinner so we needed some supplies. We had also hoped to visit the Dyfi Osprey Project which had opened a new state of the art 360\u00ba observatory last Friday.<\/p>\n

The Dyfi Osprey Project as everyone knows it is situated on the Cors Dyfi nature reserve. We used to visit this now and then before the Ospreys arrived. Back then it was a quiet little nature reserve with a boardwalk around the boggy, swampy reserve. The main attraction were the water buffalo<\/a> that grazed here, and the fact that it was a quiet, little known reserve and therefore we were usually the only ones there.<\/p>\n

Once estuary, reclaimed grazing, then conifer plantation and finally wildlife-rich wetland, the land at Cors Dyfi has seen many changes over the years. Today the reserve is a healthy mixture of bog, swamp, wet woodland and scrub supporting a wide range\u00a0of animals and plants, including the magnificent Osprey, which bred on the reserve for the first time in 2011. If you’re lucky, you may also spot an otter or dormouse! Morgan was here a couple of weeks ago building dormouse boxes with the Cubs. The habitat is quite special and so boggy that boardwalks are\u00a0needed to get around it.<\/p>\n

The Ospreys are typically around from April to September which is\u00a0also the best times to see many of Cors Dyfi’s other plants and animals, such as Common Lizard, Nightjar, Grasshopper, Reed & Sedge Warblers, Yellow Flag and Four-spotted Chaser.<\/p>\n

Things have changed quite a bit here since the Osprey’s started breeding.\u00a0First there was a raised hide built near to the car park, then a small visitor centre. Camera’s were set up on the nests with live feeds to the visitor centre. These are also streamed to the Dyfi Osprey Project website<\/a> and their Facebook page<\/a> is updated regularly with all of the latest news on the Ospreys. It is always a tense time in Autumn when the Osprey’s leave for Africa and we are able to follow their progress south thanks to GPS tracking devices. It is always exciting when they return in April too, although quite what they’ll do if they don’t return one year I’m not sure!<\/p>\n

360\u00ba Observatory<\/h2>\n

This year they have added a huge 360\u00ba viewing observatory and a brand new board walk that leads across the bog to it.<\/p>\n

\"Boardwalk\"<\/a>

Boardwalk<\/p><\/div>\n

They have removed the old boardwalk though which is a shame as now there is just a single fairly straight boardwalk that only goes to the observatory. There are little seating areas along it but it was quite nice before when there was at least a circular walk to go on. The observatory itself is an impressive wooden\u00a0structure that looms over the marshland. It’s certainly well constructed and is an impressive architectural feature. There are several levels for viewing which is nice as it towers over the scrubby, birch trees that were full of birdsong when we visited.<\/p>\n

\"Observatory\"<\/a>

Observatory<\/p><\/div>\n

Once at the top there is a large indoor room with various charts on the walls showing when the Ospreys arrive, when they lay eggs, when the eggs hatch and when they leave again. There were binoculars for you to use and a telescope set up trained on the nest which you can see quite easily from the windows. There wasn’t much else there yet though and it all felt quite bare, but I guess that will change over time. If anything I think they would be better off having a small cafe here as I’m sure people would love to sit quietly in the observatory watching the world go by whilst eating a flapjack and sipping on a coffee. They do have a small cafe at the car park, but nothing here. It’s still early days I guess, seeing as the observatory itself was only opened on Friday.<\/p>\n

We could see an osprey on the nest though and had quite a good view through the telescope.<\/p>\n\n\t\t