Is a tragedy unfolding at Llyn Clywedog? Late Wednesday in Bird World

3 June 2026

Good Evening Everyone,

Dylan and Seren Blue 5F are the adult ospreys at the Llyn Clywedog nest in the Hafren Forest in Wales. They have successfully raised chicks together for years. They have had troubles with a goshawk in the past that took one of their chicks.

This season the pair had all three of their eggs hatch.

The weather earlier today had been rainy.

A bird of prey sitting on a nest surrounded by twigs and branches, with green rolling hills and trees in the background.
A mother bird sitting on a nest with her chick, surrounded by a natural landscape of greenery.

Fish on the nest above. At times during the afternoon, I thought Seren appeared to be distracted.

An eagle resting in its nest made of twigs and branches, surrounded by a green landscape with trees in the background.
An osprey standing over a nest with three chicks surrounded by twigs and branches, set against a backdrop of green fields and trees.

Seren flies off the nest leaving her babies at 20:58:44.

A close-up view of an osprey nest made of branches and twigs, with young ospreys lying inside. The background features a blurred landscape of trees and grassy hills.

She has not returned.

A close-up view of an osprey nest made of twigs and branches, with visible chicks resting inside.

Dylan came to the nest about an hour after Seren flew off. He has not brooded the chicks. They were chirping and huddling together.

I have a really bad feeling about this. Seren is too good a mother to leave her chicks for this long unless she is injured or dead. My heart is aching for those little babies who want the warmth of their Mum.

It has been a really rough week in Bird World. We lost Rosie and Richmond’s only osplet, Scout died, Snow was taken into care, and we count every fish that goes to Little Dewey at Dewey Beach. Storks in part of Europe are hungry. They need rain along with frogs and little fish. This year promised to be challenging and it is turning out to be more than anticipated.

Please send your wishes to the Llyn Clywedog nest of Dylan and Seren that Mum will return, and the babies will not succumb to hypothermia.

Remember to be grateful for all the little souls in other nests that are fine – anything can happen. Keep them safe!

I am taking the day off tomorrow. June 4 is our late son’s birthday and we always celebrate by eating New York cheesecake, his favourite. It will also give me a chance to take a deep breath after all these tragedies. Take care everyone. We will see you again on Friday.

Thank you to CarnyX Wild for their streaming cam to the Llyn Clywedog nest where I took my screen captures.

Published by maryannsteggles

I went to the UK as a Commonwealth Scholar in 1990 and received my PhD from the University of Leicester in 1993. After three decades of university teaching, I retired to devote my time to the study of raptor behaviour. I am particularly interested in Ospreys and am working on a long term project on third hatch survival and siblicide in these raptors. My blog is a result of a fascination with my local wildlife and the desire to encourage others to love and care for birds! I live on the Canadian Prairies and prior to the pandemic travelled a lot. I am questioning the use of aviation fuel at the moment as we all strive to help our planet. My early research was in politics and art including British public statues exported to Southeast Asia and Vietnam Resistors that contributed much to Canadian ceramics. Books and articles were published on those subjects over a period of 3 decades. Now I am working on books for children so they can learn about the challenges our raptors face.

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