Last night ospreys mingled with politics. Whether we're politically minded or not, politicians play a vital role in our societies and are the decision makers that affect our world. Wildlife is no different, of course, and decisions that are made by our politicians can have wide-ranging outcomes to the natural world around us. Marine environments, woodlands, biodiversity, birds of prey; all of the nature we see around us is influenced to some degree by our democratically-chosen representatives.

In Wales our government is devolved, a similar situation to Scotland. Key decisions that affect the people and wildlife in Wales are made in this magnificent building in Cardiff, the Senedd (meaning Senate or Parliament).

The impressive Senedd building in Cardiff

Opened on St. David's Day in 2006, the building is a masterpiece of architectural design and makes use of the latest renewable technologies that help with heating and water use. It has a biomass boiler that uses wood chip from recycled waste and all the toilets use rainwater collected from the roof. Where possible all the materials used were sourced locally including the timber and the Welsh slate, of course - 1,000 tonnes of it!

The Dyfi Osprey team were invited to the Senedd last night by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to meet and engage with our politicians. Several aspects of the Dyfi Osprey Project are funded directly by grants from HLF including our osprey tower-hide and our volunteer activities and training programmes. After a sumptuous buffet with wine (we're not used to this kind of luxury in mid Wales!), we set up our plasma TV and played some of the highlight videos from this season.

The Assembly Members (AM's - similar to MP's) were captivated! I thought we would have to introduce them to birds, ospreys, the project, etc.. Most already knew and wanted to know what was the latest news regarding Einion and Dulas and whether we knew anything more about Leri!

Russell George, Assembly Member for Montgomeryshire, asks how we protect the osprey eggs from egg collectors and disturbance

Last week I gave a presentation about the Dyfi Osprey Project at the annual Wildlife Crime Conference in Carmarthen. It's great that we can engage directly with the people responsible for making decisions about our wildlife and protect it from harm - police forces, politicians, funding organisations that award grants for conservation and wildlife like the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Like many of our breeding birds here in the UK, ospreys are thousands of miles away by now. We can still work at helping our wildlife, however, by talking and engaging with people that have a direct effect on it - winter seems a great time to do just that.

The Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust would like to thank the Heritage Lottery Fund for organising such a successful event. You can learn more about the Heritage Lottery Fund here, the Senedd here, AM Russell George here and an example of a police force working with ospreys here.