On 8th May 2025, I visited the following sites:
RSPB Ynys-Hir, Powys
MWT Dyfi Osprey Project, Powys
Bwlch Nant yr Arian, Ceredigion
My first visit of the day was to RSPB Ynys-Hir, a site that I have visited many times before and one of my favourites in Wales. Being less than 10 miles from Gwerniago campsite, I was able to arrive very early at 5:45 a.m.
RSPB Ynys-Hir is situated on the Dyfi estuary with the mountains of southern Snowdonia to the north and the Cambrian mountains to the south. There is an extensive range of habitats at RSPB Ynys-Hir including oak woodland, estuary saltmarsh, lowland wet grassland, freshwater pools, reedbeds and peat bog and this provides for a wide variety of species.
Pied Flycatchers seemed particularly abundant compared with my visits in previous years but I failed to hear or see any Common Redstarts or Wood Warblers and neither did I see any Otters which I recorded for the first time at RSPB Ynys-Hir during my visit in May 2024.
The highlights from my visit included the following (heard only records in italics): Pied Flycatcher (8 singing males, 4 seen), Garden Warbler (2 singing males, none seen), Willow Warbler (3 singing males, 1 seen), Chiffchaff (at least 13 singing males, 1 seen), Blackcap (at least 7 singing males, 1 seen), Swallow (3), Sand Martin (1), Sedge Warbler (2 singing males, none seen), Cetti’s Warbler (1 singing male unseen), Red Kite (1), Nuthatch (1 heard calling), Great Spotted Woodpecker (at least 2, other or the same birds heard calling), Coal Tit (at least 1 heard calling), Common Sandpiper (1), Greenshank (1), Common Redshank (3), Oystercatcher (2), Lapwing (4), Little Egret (2), Grey Heron (1), Teal (4), Mallard (4), Shelduck (3), Little Grebe (1), Moorhen (4), Canada Goose (c.120 including 2 pairs with goslings), Greylag Goose (1), Cormorant (4)
Additions to my 2025 UK year list: Pied Flycatcher, Common Sandpiper, Greenshank
Addition to my Wales list: Greenshank
Here are some photos from my visit ….
Photo: male Pied Flycatcher
After my visit to RSPB Ynys-Hir, and following a conversation with the RSPB Warden, I drove to the nearby Cwm Einion (“Artists Valley”) where I was told that there was a good chance of hearing and seeing Wood Warblers. The very narrow and steep road up the valley was bordered by forest and I did indeed hear 3 singing male Wood Warblers.
Addition to my 2025 UK year list: Wood Warbler
After descending back down the narrow and steep road to the main road, I drove into Machynlleth for some breakfast. Here, I saw 6 Common Swifts speeding across the rooftops before I continued on to MWT Dyfi Osprey Project.
The MWT Dyfi Osprey Project lies just 3 miles
to the north of RSPB
Ynys-Hir. It
is a conservation project at the Cors
Dyfi nature reserve under the management of the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust and is primarily
dedicated to the protection of a breeding pair of Ospreys which
can be watched on site or via a live YouTube stream.
In 2011, for the first time in over 400 years, Ospreys bred in the Dyfi valley at the Cors Dyfi nature reserve following 3 years work to reintroduce them into the area.
On 18th April
2014, Montgomeryshire
Wildlife Trust opened
a brand new, 3 floor £1.4m observatory. From the upper viewing level, over
30 feet above the bog below, the building provides a full 360 degree view of
the Cors Dyfi nature reserve and Dyfi valley with
the Plynlimon mountains and Snowdonia National Park beyond …. plus
the nesting Ospreys.
The highlights from my
visit included the following (heard only records in italics): Osprey (breeding
pair), Red Kite (1), Pied Flycatcher (1 singing male
unseen), Garden Warbler (1 singing male unseen), Willow
Warbler (5 singing males, none seen), Blackcap (1
singing male unseen), Chiffchaff (2 singing males unseen),
Sedge Warbler (at least 4 singing males, 1 seen), Reed Warbler
(at least 2 singing males, none seen), Reed Bunting (2
singing males unseen), Canada Goose (16)
Additions to my 2025 UK year list: Osprey
In addition, I had a very brief view of a single Common Lizard along the boardwalk (usually far more numerous and conspicuous) plus Hairy Dragonfly (1), Large Red Damselfly (c.15 including mating pairs), Azure and/or Common Blue Damselfly (c.15) and Orange Tip (1 male).
Here are some photos from my visit ….
Photo: breeding pair of Ospreys
After visiting the MWT Dyfi Osprey Project, I drove 20 miles south to Bwlch Nant yr Arian near Ponterwyd.
The Visitor Centre at Bwlch Nant yr Arian is perched on a dramatic hilltop, straddling the boundary between the lowlands and uplands and has commanding views of Cardigan Bay and the Cambrian Mountains.
Bwlch Nant yr Arian is well-known for its long-established tradition of daily feeding of Red Kites. It initially became a Red Kite feeding station in 1999 as part of a programme to protect the small number of these birds in the area at that time but now up to 150 birds can be seen coming in to feed in the afternoons. Unlike other Red Kite feeding stations in Wales, there is no charge to watch and photograph these amazing birds.
Photo: Red Kites
The highlights from my visit included the following (heard only records in italics): Red Kite (c.150), Common Buzzard (1), Garden Warbler (1 singing male unseen), Willow Warbler (1 singing male unseen)
Here are some photos from my visit ….
Photo: Red Kite
I recorded the following at or around the campsite which included an amazing “dawn chorus” (heard only records in italics): Red Kite (1), Common Buzzard (1), Cuckoo (1 calling male which I eventually saw, my first sighting of the year after hearing numerous calling birds since mid-April), Willow Warbler (1 singing male, 2 calling birds, none seen), Chiffchaff (1 calling bird seen), Swallow (1), Mistle Thrush (1 singing male unseen), Goldcrest (2 singing males, 1 seen), Coal Tit (1 calling bird unseen), Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Robin, Wren, Woodpigeon
In addition, I saw a Grey Heron on the nearby river both when I arrived and departed.
Love nature .... act now
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