It's been one of those crazy osprey days here at the Dyfi. Well, Wales really.

First of all, here's what happened this morning on the Dyfi nest:

* Blue 5F visited (she's a Rutland 2012 bird - she visited last year too, but is usually seen around the Glaslyn nest)

* Blue 24 stayed the night and was with us first thing

* Dai Dot then appears!

* Dai and Blue 24 mate several times for a couple of hours

* Blue 5F tries to displace Blue 24 off the nest

Here's a two minute video:

Caveat
It's not easy identifying ospreys as individuals. In fact, it's nigh-on impossible without really sharp photographs.

It can be difficult enough sometimes making out a buzzard/kite/gull from an osprey in flight - imagine trying to tell each osprey apart, even if they do have leg rings. They need to perch somewhere, ideally, to have a really good look at them.

With that in mind, let's start with Dai Dot. He's unringed, but we know him well enough and his features to positively ID him. Best clue is the eyes - he has a cluster of dark iris dots at the 3 & 4 o'clock position on his left eye.

If you have the Ospreys In Wales: The First Ten Years book, look at page 182 and compare the image of that bird to this... same bird.

Dai Dot's left eye -  taken this morning

So it's definitely Dai and we know Blue 24 and Blue 5F from their ring numbers, both Rutland females - 2010 and 2012 respectively.

But here's the strange thing: when all this was going on at the Dyfi, there was a pair of ospreys at Dai's nest as well!

Looks like male (perch), female (nest) and female (in flight) - images by photographer Keith Lewis

Not only that, Keith also photographed this osprey at the same location:

Can you tell who it is? It's Blue 24! She did leave the Dyfi during the time Keith was at the other nest.

10 Things We Learnt From Today (and a lot more we didn't...)

1. Blue 24 and Blue 5F are still looking for a mate and a nest.

2. Dai Dot is clearly not the male that's holding the nest 12 miles south-east of the Dyfi.

3. It could be the resident female, Delyth, but she is unringed so difficult to tell. The male there is definitely not Dai Dot - he was filmed on the Dyfi when Keith took the shot above.

4. A fourth osprey has been seen today as well - this could be Blue 5F wandering around.

5. There are now two ospreys at the Snowdonia ON4 nest, both unringed so possibly the same pair as previous years. This pair were disturbed at 3pm today by another osprey. Blue 5F again?

6. Glaslyn rang us this afternoon also to say they had an intruder - Blue 5F yet again??!!

7. I've heard a lot of people (again) say today - "we need more nests". We don't!! There are plenty of nests around, it's more males we need. They'll come.

8. Looks like we're just waiting for one female, Glesni, and two males in Wales now - Monty and Aran (Glaslyn). They are due over the next 10 days or so.

9. Non-breeding ospreys are attracted to other birds' nests like flies - even when their normal occupiers are not back yet.

10. Today has been a classic example of how hard it is to identify ospreys as individuals. In an age of social media, digital cameras and wi-fi, it's becoming easier, but it still poses a gargantuan challenge (imagine trying to do this 20 years ago!!).

Many thanks to my DOP colleagues Kim and Nicky today for keeping track of everything that was going on including the great camera work, and of course Keith for his updates and photographs.

We learnt a lot today, but we also have a few more questions to answer. Who needs Eastenders when you've got Osptenders?

Not bad for a warm-up act, eh!