Monty the osprey is a TV star.

He stole the show in the most recent run of BBC’s Springwatch. Little wonder, when his life reads like a soap opera!

He was chased by three different females in a month before settling down with his latest partner Glesni. And he’s just become a dad.

He brings the missus regular fish suppers, just as he did for previous partner Nora back in 2011 when they became the first pair of ospreys to breed along Wales’ Dyfi Estuary in 400 years. As he perches high above the salt marshes scanning the horizon, bird watchers, locals and tourists inspired by Monty’s story keep watch, too.

Their binoculars are trained either from the hide erected by the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust at Morfa Dyfan near Machynlleth, or they watch pictures of the nest and eggs streamed live on the internet.

One of the bedrooms at Ynyshire Hall
One of the bedrooms at Ynyshire Hall

The addictive pictures from Monty and Glesni’s nest showed them courting, preening, feeding and rearranging the nest on the windswept estuary while constantly watching the horizon.

During filming, Springwatch was based at the nearby Ynys-hir nature reserve run by the RSPB.

A crew of around 150 descended on this corner of Ceredigion to capture the native wildlife as well as the trans-Saharan migrant wood warblers, pied flycatchers and redstarts attracted by the salt marshes, woodland and rare raised mire habitats.

Winter visitors this year included 5,000 lapwings and 2,000 golden plover, and Ynys-hir also provided a winter home for 55 of the 20,000 world population of Greenland white fronted geese.

In July, August and September migrants have been calling in on their way south with a chance to see wood sandpipers and greenshank, while all year round reed buntings, lesser spotted woodpeckers and little egrets can be seen.

The reserve was bought by the RSPB in 1969 from William Hubert Mappin of Mappin and Webb. He was the owner of a large estate centred on Ynyshir Hall, a Georgian manor house once owned by Queen Victoria, who was said to have loved the birds in the area and was responsible for planting specimen trees in the grounds, some of which still remain.

It is now a small and refined, award-winning hotel owned by artist Rob Reen and his wife Joan. The beautiful grounds adjoin the reserve and the public rooms are painted in vibrant colours reflecting Rob’s distinctive paintings of the local landscape and its many sheep.

The bedrooms are individually decorated, named after artists and a wonderful mix of the traditional and contemporary. Our recently refurbished studio was tastefully decorated in shades of taupe and gold with antique bed, wood burner effect stove, sitting area and a vast bathroom in sophisticated shades of grey with a roll top bath with views across the grounds.

Chef Paul Croasdale is hoping for a Michelin star this year and guests can expect to find foraged food on his modern and ambitious menu as well as locally sourced meat and shellfish.

While we were there, sea purslane accompanied smoked haddock and egg at breakfast and wild garlic had been gathered for a sauce for the meltingly tender rump of rose veal with morels. Delicious brioche was flavoured with laverbread, the traditional Welsh seaweed and served with seaweed butter.

The wild garlic was from Artist Valley, a nearby beauty spot said to have been popular with Victorian artists, a valley full of rock pools and waterfalls, and inspiration for Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven.

An easy circular walk from Ynyshir Hall will take you sufficiently high for a spectacular view of the Dyfi Estuary, while the more adventurous can explore the beauty of the Cambrian Mountains.

A more relaxed way to see them is via the Vale of Rheidol Railway from Aberystwyth to the waterfalls at Devil’s Bridge, a favoured beauty spot since Victorian times. The steam locomotives and carriages date back to the 1920s and the hour-long journey in each direction passes through stunning scenery where red kite soar above the track.

You can watch up to 100 kite being fed each day at the Forestry Commission’s Bwlch Nant yr Arian centre, nine miles east of Aberystwyth. Feeding time is 3pm in summer, 2pm in winter, and it is a wonderful sight to see these majestic birds swooping from the skies.

FACTFILE

Margaret O’Reilly was the guest of Ynyshir Hall, Eglwys Fach, Machynlleth, Powys. Visit www.ynyshirhall.co.uk.

Bed and breakfast is from £205 per night for two, dinner, bed and breakast from £350.

For more on Dyfi Osprey Project see www.montwt. co.uk; RSPB Ynys-hir (www.rspb.org.uk/ynys-hir); Red Kite feeding (www.forestry.gov.u/ bwlchnantyarian) and Vale of Rheidol Railway (www.rheidolrailway.co.uk)