June 9th, 2012 was one of those strange, surreal days that will stay in the mind for a long time. A 5am look through the window confirmed the worst possible news - the most devastating summer storm to hit west Wales in living memory was still with us and that meant that torrential wind and rain had been falling on the osprey nest for 24 hours non-stop. Turning the computer on then confirmed we had a power cut - the whole area was out.

Utter devastation just down the road from the Dyfi Osprey Project

The nest cameras had been off since 3pm the previous day due to the weather, so we had no idea how Monty and Nora were getting along with their two chicks. Surely they could not successfully protect their young family, still just days old, from this kind of freak weather? The next challenge was how to get to the project. A quick drive down the road and it was obvious that the roads were impassable, even the single-track road shortcut, known only to locals, was out of bounds.

The weather descended on mid Wales and just stayed here, hour after hour

By 7am myself and three volunteers who live within yards of the project were peering through telescopes in the hide, desperately trying to see any signs of life from the nest. The rain was almost horizontal and it was bitingly cold - shut your eyes and you would swear it was January. We could see some slight movement, but it was impossible to interpret it into any kind of meaningful behaviour.

By midday, the the storm was still with us and by now our poor osprey family had been subjected to the most indescribable conditions. We had lost all glimmer of hope that the two little chicks could have survived 30 hours of this.

Shortly after midday, we were visited by some of the Springwatch team - they were looking as dejected as we were, having been completely flooded out at Ynys Hir which is right next door. Then, suddenly, power was restored and the cameras booted back up. By now the cameras had been off for 21 hours so we quickly grabbed the controls and zoomed in to the centre of the nest.

Both chicks were moving, but only just.

A few minutes after we recorded this, the youngest chick on the left had succumbed to the weather and died. Nora had been feeding off the previous day's trout at the side of the nest for the best part of an hour while Monty brooded the two deteriorating chicks.

It seemed obvious Monty wanted to take the fish off her and start feeding the chick himself. He couldn't grapple the fish away from her, however, and all the time the movement we could see from the last remaining chick was getting fainter and fainter. Why did Nora, after all her resilient efforts for such a long time in protecting her offspring, not want to complete the process and start feeding?

It's impossible to know, she must have been traumatised herself after such a distressing ordeal. She couldn't see those food begging behaviours and calls with the wide gaping mouth moving around, so perhaps her chick feeding instincts were never triggered. Animals often don't behave in the way humans 'anticipate' in severe and extraordinary circumstances.

We were left watching a desperate situation. The last remaining chick was destined to die, and soon, if it did not get any food. We took the unprecedented decision to intervene. We decided to go to the nest and remove both the dead chick and the one barely alive and try and feed it. The water levels were still a barrier, but disturbing the birds wasn't, as it was obvious that there would be only one inevitable outcome without feeding the chick.

Myself and Al Davies, one of the three volunteers, headed for the nest and took both chicks out. Barely alive is an understatement - he was shivering intensely and in a hypothermic state. We put a towel around him and tried to get his head up but he was too weak to even remain upright - his head and neck were limp. We then forced his beak open gently with a thumb nail and placed tiny pieces of fish in his mouth. He was unresponsive at first, but after around 10 minutes he started to pick up. Another 10 minutes went by and he could stand on his feet erect and he started food calling, now able to hold his head upright and open his mouth.

We fed him for another 10 minutes until his crop was around half full and he had stopped shivering.

After 30 minutes of being out of the nest, we gently placed him back in the cup of the nest and quickly departed. The guys back at the visitor centre confirmed that as we were making our way back, Nora had returned and was now feeding her chick. Elation all around.

Those of you watching on the live nest camera would have seen it pointed skywards - we pride ourselves at informing and engaging with people in a truthful and public way so everybody knows what's going on. We took the decision, however, for that hour or so, not to show us approaching the nest and taking the chicks out and feeding one of them. Without warning, it would have been distressing for people watching not knowing what was going on, and for myself and Al. I had never done this before and Al is an electrician - he certainly hadn't! We had to make decisions quickly in a desperate situation for the ospreys.

Intervention like this is not everyone's cup of tea. I've just had a quick look at the Facebook comments and most of them are supportive. I have received many emails, however, that are not. I want to thank all of the people that have written and commented, supportive of the decision or not.

The bottom line is that Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust is one of the 46 Wildlife Trust charities working hard for Conservation in the UK. It took 500 years for Man to completely, and artificially, wipe out the osprey in this country. Even today they are still shot and their eggs stolen illegally, year after year after year. To my knowledge, at least six adults have been shot in just the last three years alone. Illegal osprey persecution and killing is intervention no matter how you look at it. A half an hour intervention yesterday doesn't even begin to re-address the balance.

Finally, I would like to thank Network Rail for sending an emergency team out to reconnect our nest cameras yesterday morning in the most horrendous conditions. Also, Hugh, Justin and Al - I know you all do other jobs Monday - Friday, but yesterday, you were all conservationists, and brilliant ones at that. Well done, what a roller coaster.

A crop half full and a fighting chance, ready to go back to the nest

You can read Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust's take on the events of yesterday here.