Birdwatching

Set in the mountains, surrounded by trees and on the banks of a river, Glaslyn is home to a wonderful variety of birds. The surrounding area has been liberally fitted out with bird boxes for a number of species, to supplement the natural nesting sites. To encourage birds closer to the accommodation, each property has a bird table and feeders. As a result, birdwatching can be as energetic or sedentary as you wish. One guest counted 47 species within the Glaslyn boundaries.

Typical visitors to the bird tables include common and more unusual visitors such as tits, robins, dunnock, great spotted woodpecker, chaffinches, yellowhammer, siskin and nuthatch. Look to the skies to see buzzard and kite. Walk the riverbanks and watch for pied and grey wagtail, dippers, sandpipers and kingfisher on or near the water. Look away from the river to the bank-side woods for blackbirds, magpie and jays. Larger birds, such as heron, are sometimes seen in the river and often flying overhead. Ducks also frequent the river. Besides the mallards are a number of sawbills, specifically Mergansers and Goosanders.

At night, besides the bats that inhabit the outbuildings at Glaslyn, you may hear, and on the odd occasion see, owls.

A short walk towards Rhayader is the old quarry used for stone for the building of the Elan Valley dams. Often heard and sometimes seen are the peregrine falcons that now nest on the rugged rock face.

Take a trip to the Elan Valley or the surrounding mountains for a myriad of other species (180 in total, with 106 species breeding here).

To get close to kite and buzzard, visit Gigrin Farm just two miles from Glaslyn.

For general information on birdwatching in Mid Wales, try the websites in our links page.