Caravan park delight as Dyfi opsreys produce first egg

Motorhomers, caravanners and campers at Morben Isaf Holiday Home and Touring Park are celebrating after their next door neighbours, the Dyfi ospreys, laid their first egg of the season.

Monty, the male osprey at Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust's Dyfi Osprey Project near Machynlleth, returned from his African wintering grounds at the beginning of April, right on time. However, his mate from the previous two years, Nora, failed to return. Monty then had brief liaisons with five different female ospreys before finally settling with his sixth, a three-year-old ringed bird from Rutland Water, which has been named Glesni. On Wednesday evening, Glesni produced one of the latest eggs ever laid by an osprey in the UK.

Ben and Sarah Lewis, new managers of Morben Isaf Holiday Home and Touring Park next door to the ospreys, were delighted with the news and are expecting an influx of birdwatching caravanners over the next few months.

People engagement officer at the Dyfi Osprey Project, Alwyn Evans said: 'We had just about given up hope on Monty and his new mate breeding this year, as it was getting very late in the season. But then on May 22, Glesni revealed a crimson red egg in the nest. It's wonderful to be able to engage with thousands of visitors each year and explain all about these magnificent birds of prey that were persecuted to extinction in Wales many centuries ago'.

Followers can get daily updates on the goings-on at the Dyfi Osprey Project's nest via their Facebook and Twitter pages as well as a 24 hour live web-cam feed on their website.

Morben Isaf Holiday Park is located alongside Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust’s Cors Dyfi reserve where the osprey nest is perched high on an artificial platform. Visiting touring caravanners and campers are now able to visit Dyfi Osprey Project’s hide and visitor centre, which is open between 10am and 6pm daily. Visitors can see live, High Definition nest camera footage at the visitor centre on large plasma screens and view the ospreys from a specially built tower-hide with telescopes and binoculars. More details at www.dyfiospreyproject.com