Twitching around Pentre Bach

Great news from the Dyfi Osprey Project this week. The chick that the volunteers saved by removing from the nest and virtually force-feeding has matured into a handsome young osprey. On Friday Ceulan (named after a local river)  was once again carefully removed from the nest, weighed, checked all over, ringed and fitted with a satellite tracker. They also established that he's a boy! This good news as apparently male ospreys tend to return to the same area each year. Well done to all at the Dyfi Osprey Project , both human and avian! Visit http://www.dyfiospreyproject.com/ for more information.

The DOP is only a 40 minute drive from Pentre Bach http://www.pentrebach.com/ , very close to the RSPB reserve at Ynys-hir (host of the BBC's Springwatch for the last 2 years.
In the other direction from Pentre Bach, near Portmadog (also about 40-50 minute drive) is the RSPB Gaslyn Osprey Project, where an established pair of ospreys have managed to rear 3 chicks this year.
Also less than an hour away from Pentre Bach, is RSPB Lake Vyrnwy where ospreys and peregrines have been nesting this year.
Further afield at Llanddeusant in Carmarthenshire is the Red Kite Feeding Station where at around 3pm each day you can watch the amazing spectacle of hundreds of these magnificent birds swooping down to feed on carrion.

Closer to home we've had 4 swallows/house martins or even swifts (opinion has been very much divided- can anyone inform us?)  hatch from our nest in the barn. The young birds fluttered around in the barn for a few days,making quite a mess, before they were able to use a window of opportunity in the weather and eventually leave the safety of the barn.

However, yesterday, much to our delight, we heard some more twittering coming from another part of the barn, and have discovered another pair of swallows/house martins or swifts, in another nest. So fingers crossed for some more chicks- so we better cover every surface with polythene yet again!

Also spotted yesterday evening were some pipistrelle bats circling around outside our windows as the light was fading- always a great sight.

Oh ..... and more dolphins we spotted out in the bay last week..... but we missed them again. Drat!