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Ospreys: Llyn Brenig nest platform rebuilt after chainsaw attack

CCTV captured the moment a vandal took a chainsaw to the platform

Extra security measures may be brought in to protect ospreys after their nest site was cut down with a chainsaw.

Conservationists replaced a platform destroyed on Friday at Llyn Brenig, which borders Conwy and Denbighshire.

An existing platform was opened to the birds on Saturday but the original platform has now been replaced.

Staff at Brenig Osprey Project say they will establish what security measures can be put in place if the birds decide to use one of the platforms.

There are five pairs of ospreys in Wales and the birds and their eggs are protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act which makes it an offence to interfere with them or their nest.

CCTV cameras recorded the moment the platform was deliberately cut down.

It has been branded a "disgusting act" by Rob Taylor, rural crime team manager for North Wales Police.

NWP Rural Crime Team/Twitter Nesting OspreysNWP Rural Crime Team/Twitter
An egg had been laid in the nest a day before the platform was destroyed

The female had laid an egg a day before the nest was destroyed so a decoy egg was put on a second nesting platform which was reopened by conservationists on Saturday.

The project team, which is a partnership with site owners Welsh Water and North Wales Wildlife Trust, said Sunday was spent constructing a further platform.

It has since been erected at the site of the original nest in the reservoir.

"The aim is to give the birds a choice of two nest sites, including something as close as possible to their original," they said in a Facebook update.

"Once it becomes clear which, if either, nest site the birds choose, we will establish what security measures can be put in place to protect them."

According to the RSPB, female osprey lay two or three eggs between one and three daily intervals in the second half of April, and incubates them for 37 days per egg.

On Sunday, BBC Springwatch presenter Iolo Williams said people would be "delighted" if the birds were still able to breed this season, "although that doesn't take away from this idiotic act of vandalism".