The Clywedog reservoir in Mid Wales supports breeding ospreys; on a recent trip with Tony Cross to ring the two young it was a chance to snap the anxious parents and ruffled young. Over the weekend we also ringed a brood of kestrels in Cwmystwyth, sparrowhawks on the edge of Borth Bog and an albino red kite on the mountain road above Rhayader.

After a long ‘take-off’ period, ospreys are now spreading across the estuaries, rivers and reservoirs of Wales; red kites are as common as buzzards and in parts of central England, where they were reintroduced around 35 years ago, they are now regarded by some as a menace. The general trend of increasing large raptors in England and Wales has coincided with a decline in the numbers of ground-nesting birds such as lapwings and curlews. The correlation, whilst interesting, doesn’t imply causation; if all the raptors disappeared from the UK would the lapwings and curlews bounce back? The foxes, badgers and crows might say otherwise.