Back to the Osprey Centre.

I was up and watching the sea by 8.00 this morning watching a lone paddleboarder on the calm sea. The sky above reflected the day, cloudy at times and sunny at others.

I had to laugh when I read yesterday's Sunday walk email and saw that the meeting place was the Osprey Centre. The plan was to walk round the reserve followed by a walk up in the hills. 

Although I haven't yet received my membership card from the wildlife trust I took a copy of the confirmation email so that I didn't have to pay another £7. About half of us decided to walk down the long boardwalk to the main hide. As we walked I kept saying how there had been so many lizards on view last week and..... you guessed it, we didn't see a single one even though it was hot in the shelter of the reeds. My thoughts were that some boisterous children may have been trying to touch them and sent all the lizards into hiding. One of my friends was particularly disappointed but right at the end of the day when we had returned to the centre for a final cuppa and some cake (I refrained), I went a little way along the boardwalk and found two lizards which my friend was able to photograph.

Every now and again the camera mounted by the osprey nest swings round to give a view of the people in the hide. 

No sign of any snakes in the pond this week but there were a number of dragonflies.

I'm especially pleased with the photos of a female Scarce chaser - Libellula fulva (above) and a pair of mating common blue damselflies (below).

From the osprey centre we crossed the main road and headed up a path overgrown by brambles and bracken following a small stream that tumbled down the hillside. I was wearing shorts so went very cautiously along the path and emerged at the top without a single scratch (or tick) much to my relief.

We then followed the old toll road for a while before heading uphill again to where we had stunning views of the Dyfi valley towards Mach. We perched on a rocky outcrop to eat our lunch. One of our group had to make a quick change to his seating location when he discovered he was sitting on an ants' nest. We brushed him down and no bites were had.

We had to retrace our route on the return journey back to the osprey centre where some of us stayed to chat for a while.

Upstairs in the main building is a lovely seating area which just invites you to sit and relax while enjoying the views across the reserve. Now that we have our 'free' entry I foresee a few more visits.