The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is using a set of cameras to watch over Wales’s only pair of breeding ospreys as they raise their chicks in rural Snowdonia.
Images of the birds, which fly in annually from Africa, are then sent back to a viewing platform for members of the public to enjoy.
Installed by Welsh firm Criccieth TV, the Lilin surveillance system features three cameras and a keyboard.
A high speed dome camera about 1m from the edge of the nest has already provided pictures of fish being eaten, eggs hatching and chicks being fed and learning to fly.
Meanwhile, a day/night camera with PTZ housing films from another tree 25m away from the nest, providing panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. A third camera, as yet unused, is in place for emergency back-up.
Wendy Thompson, from the Glaslyn Osprey Project, said the birds are totally unaware of the cameras.
“There are now two screens in the visitor centre and we can choose which of the three images to show, depending on what the birds are doing,” she said.
Staff at the centre have been so impressed with the CCTV system they plan to expand it next year, adding a microphone to allow visitors to hear the birds, too.
Thompson added, “The new camera system has given lots of pleasure to many people, providing breathtaking close-up footage of the osprey family”.
The RSPB hopes the scheme will raise awareness of the osprey’s plight as one of the world’s most endangered birds.