A packed out evening!

Henderson hall was full to capacity on Friday night with people keen to find out more about the ospreys. Osprey expert Tim Mackrill provided us with key information about this fish-eating magnificent bird of prey. It is capable of flying hundreds of miles in a day on its migration to and from its wintering grounds on the warm beaches of Africa. He detailed the amazing navigational skills that allow birds to find their way on migration alone in their first year, and showed us a specific beach in West Africa where many of them congregate. He described how the birds have recolonised the British Isles following persecution over the centuries culminating their virtual extinction by Victorian times and the modern threats of toxic chemicals and pesticides. The slow carefully nurtured expansion of the UK populations over the last 20 or so years has now resulted in the first nest made here in the Usk Valley for several hundred years. He spoke of the loyalty the birds show to their nest and that if they make it back from Africa in their first year there is a 90% chance of them returning subsequently, so there is every expectation that the Usk Valley birds will return this season.

The second talk by Gwenan Williams outlined the experiences of the volunteers and locals at the Glaslyn nest a few miles from Porthmadog. From being the first nest site in Wales the birds have produced countless chicks and many heart stopping moments. With the RSPB they established a hide, live camera feeds and a visitor centre. Later this was run as a community interest company, Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife and then a charity to create a new visitor centre and viewing hides and video screens they have today which now attract over 13,000 visitors each year during the Osprey breeding season.