Here are our annual highlights of what’s new for DOP 2026.

Many years we make incremental improvements to DOP, making it better than the year before. Over this winter, however, we have made significant improvements for this upcoming season—over £70,000 worth, in fact.

Here is what you need to know for 2026:

1. Opening Times

DOP will be open 10 am – 5 pm every day, including weekends and Bank Holidays, for six months until mid-September.

Our Caffi Tŷ Maenan will be open as normal, serving full breakfasts (inc veggie, vegan, gluten free etc) every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday throughout the season. More details, including pricing, can be found here.

2. Weather Station

We’ve wanted a professional weather station to record conditions at the nest for years. Now we have one. For the tech nerds, it’s a Davis Vantage Pro 2.

With this very localised station, we’ll be able to link various ecological data points (e.g., species of fish caught, incubation delays, and chick hatching ages) with accurate weather metrics at the nest—like temperature, wind speed, direction, and rainfall. 

This will, for the first time, provide an unprecedented amount of ecological and environmental information about the Dyfi ospreys.

3. Photographic Hide

Brand new for 2026, we’ve built a Photographic Hide on the same location (using the same foundations, in fact) as our original hide. Please note, however, this is not for watching ospreys—the Observatory is by far the better option for that.

Around the new hide, we’re building a habitat "nature-scape" full of rocks, a hibernaculum, bird feeders, and an infinity pool for small birds and wildlife. The water for the infinity pool will be collected as rainwater off the hide's roof into a water butt.

As it matures, we hope to attract amazing species such as pine marten, hawfinch, yellowhammer, willow tit, stoat, weasel, fox, and water rail.

The inside of the hide has been built from the original timbers of the old hide (after some TLC by our volunteers), and the windows and sitting positions have been specifically designed with photographers in mind. We’ve considered the angle of light, the height level of the pool and feeders, the minimum focus distances of most lenses, the background (everybody loves an obliterated "bokeh"!), and the ergonomics of the sitting position.

On some days, a volunteer or staff member will be in the Photographic Hide to help visitors get the best out of their visit. There is even a heater in there for when the temperatures drop—powered by a solar array on the pitched roof.

The middle window is designed specifically for wheelchair users; being positioned centrally, it is actually the best spot for photography in the whole hide. On the back wall, an 86-inch 8K TV will show live video from the bird feeders in real-time, featuring software-generated pop-ups of the species seen.

The hide will open on 13th April and is free to enter as part of the main DOP entrance charge.

4. New Cameras

You'll see several new cameras this year.

We'll have two cameras on and around the new Photographic hide, a new camera on the pool by the Observatory and a new beaver camera. 

All of these cameras will be live on various TV monitors in the Dyfi Wildlife Centre. They'll also appear now and again on the main DOP 2026  Live Streaming - see No 5 below..

5. DOP Live Streaming 2026

The stream will go live on 18th March—the earliest we’ve ever started the broadcast. It will be streaming in 4K resolution with no compression, meaning you’ll get the best possible image quality.

We’ve also done a lot of work feeding key weather metrics from the nest onto the feed. 

While the weather data updates every 2.5 seconds, we have set the display to a 1-minute cadence so you don't see distracting, moving numbers every few seconds. This is something people have been asking for for years; we think you’ll love it. 

We’ve also integrated a local-time clock into the ticker—perfect for when you want to rewind to a particular moment.

Here's a link for our DOP Channel

6. Audio Improvements

We’ve invested in new audio hardware at the nest over the winter. With the previous "single-point failure" system, we were at risk of losing audio mid-season (as happened in 2024).

We now have two professional microphones under the nest:

• A Sennheiser MKH 416: A shotgun condenser microphone renowned for its high directivity and resistance to humidity—ideal for the Dyfi Estuary.
• A Rode NTG5: Another professional mic that acts as a back-up.

Both mics are now configured to send signals back to the visitor centre via separate hardware, eliminating the risk of a total audio blackout. Over the summer, we will also be installing professional microphones near the beaver and hide cameras.

7. Nestorations

After over a decade of letting the ospreys handle their own "nestorations", we noticed significant structural weakening of the nest over the winter.

At the beginning of March we carried out some essential strengthening work to ensure the nest remains robust for the next few years. Depending on which camera angle we use for the 2026 live stream, you may spot some cable ties at the start of the season. Don't worry, though—these will soon be covered up as Telyn and Idris bring back their own fresh nesting material!

8. Car Park

We don’t get many complaints, but a common one we do hear concerns the state of the car park. 

Last week we de-edged the potholes, and 32 tonnes of scalpings were laid and rollered. You should see (and feel) less standing water this year.

9. When will the ospreys come back?

Who knows! Here is a remiinder of the complete key-date list from last season:

2025 TIMELINE

Arriving

• 🦅 21^st MARCH: IDRIS arrives home 18:44
• 🦅 27^th MARCH: TELYN arrives home 12:41

Eggs

• 🥚 9^th APRIL at 13:48
• 🥚🥚 12^th APRIL at 13:37
• 🥚🥚🥚  15^th April at 13:52

Hatching

• 🐣 17^th May at 16:22 (38.1 days)
• 🐣🐣  18^th May at 13:15 (36.0 days)
• 🐣🐣🐣 21^st May at 15:29 (36.0 days)

Ringing Stats (ringed 20^th June at 34, 33 and 30 days old):

• 🟦  BRIANNE (female) Blue 6B6 (1,730g)
• 🟦  CWELLYN (male) 6B5 (1,430g)
• 🟦  HONDDU (male) 6B4 (1,380g)

Fledging

• 🦅 Cwellyn Fledges - 8^th July at 16:12 - 51.1 days old
• 🦅 Brianne Fledges - 10^th July at 11:48 - 53.8 days old
• 🦅 Honddu Fledges - 12^th July at 19:37 - 52.2 days old

Last Seen

• 🦅 Cwellyn last seen - 21st August at 11:00
• 🦅 Honddu last seen - 21st August at 11:02
• 🦅 Telyn last seen - 23^rd August at 07:52
• 🦅 Brianne last seen - 6^th September at 08:49
• 🦅 Idris last seen - 7^th September at 19:40

10. 2026 Live Streaming Appeal

As you know, our cameras and streaming are funded by our followers and supporters every year. We couldn’t do this without you.

Could you help us raise £25,000 to pay for this year’s Live Stream? We choose not to put our channel behind a paywall, as we don't want to deprive those who cannot afford to pay.

There are three main ways you can help:

1. Via JustGiving: They don't take a commission and you can use Gift Aid.
2. Via the DOP-specific PayPal Giving Fund: Again, no commission and Gift Aid is available.
3. By visiting in person or sending a cheque (payable to ‘Dyfi Osprey Project’) to:

Dyfi Osprey Project Cors Dyfi Machynlleth SY20 8SR

Thank you very much for your generosity. We are so excited about the 2026 season in our beautiful Dyfi Wildlife Centre—we bet you are too!