The 2022 Glaslyn brood were special for many reasons, and not just because they were the final offspring produced during the Mrs G and Aran era. Every single one of those three youngsters managed to do something that very few of their older siblings had done, they returned to Wales.
Prior to 2024 only two Glaslyn hatched Ospreys had ever been recorded returning to Wales, out of a possible 41 fledged offspring. This was an unusual statistic for a species that is known to be highly philopatric. White YC (2008) briefly landed on the natal nest in 2011 while his mother was incubating eggs and Blue 80 (2012) joined his mother for four days in 2015. White YC eventually went on to breed in Cumbria, while there were no further confirmed sightings of Blue 80 after he left the Glaslyn nest.
Therefore, the fact that two of the 2022 brood were resighted in Wales last year was an incredible statistic. Blue 497 appeared at Dyfi and Usk and 498 appeared at Glaslyn and Brenig. Blue 498 showed up at the Glaslyn nest again this May and we were amazed when the third and youngest of the brood, Blue 499, intruded at the Dyfi nest twice during May. He may even have put in an appearance at the Glaslyn nest, but we could not quite confirm the ring number. 499 spent the rest of the summer on Anglesey, so we may well see him back in Wales in future years.
But what about the “Golden Chick”, 497? On March 28 this year, 497 was resighted by Jean-Marie Dupart at the Karone Islands, Casamance in Senegal. This gave us great hope that we would soon be seeing him back in Wales. We heard no more of him though and there was still the question mark over whether he was male or female. A question that would only ever be answered if we were fortunate enough to find out that he was breeding. We are so excited to report that we now have the answer to that question.
Tim Mackrill recently passed on the incredible news that 497 has been nesting with a Rutland born female, Blue 2H4 in South Wales. 2H4 is a daughter of Yellow 30 (2005), who has another well known daughter breeding in Wales, Blue 5F/Seren from the Clywedog Osprey nest. 5F spent several years in the Glaslyn Valley prior to pairing up with Dylan at Clywedog.
The nest was built in 2024 by raptor expert Steve Roberts and was soon occupied by 497 and 2H4, who had both been intruders at the Gilestone Osprey nest that year. In fact, Steve has a Glaslyn connection himself, as he acted as tree climber for the ringing team on several occasions during the early years of the Glaslyn nest, including 2008.
2H4 and 497 raised two chicks together this summer and everything looked to be going well. Tragically, the youngest chick disappeared just before reaching 5 weeks old, evidence suggested it fell from the nest. The eldest chick also disappeared just short of 7 weeks, there is a high Goshawk population in the area and it may possibly have been due to predation.
Despite the failure of the nest this season, they are the first recorded Osprey pair to breed in Monmouthshire and 497 is the first Glaslyn Osprey to be recorded breeding in Wales. It seems very appropriate that we chose him to be our poster boy in 2023 and feature on our leaflets and new signage, despite not knowing the part he would go on to play in Glaslyn Osprey history. Although the pair has failed to raise chicks successfully this year there are great hopes for the future. After all, the Glaslyn nest itself failed during the first season it was used and went on to become a highly productive nest, with 49 chicks successfully migrating from it to date.
Thank you to Steve Roberts and Dyfi Osprey project for sharing their images with BGGW.
