On St. Davids Day - MARCH 1st - the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust will be hosting a ‘Herculean’ volunteer event. We are upgrading the nest cameras to High Definition equipment before Monty and Nora arrive back from their African wintering grounds in late March/April. The amount of data that High Definition cameras generate is enormous and the only way to feasibly get the video images back to the visitor centre 800 metres away is via a physical connection - fibre-optic cable.

For years we have been waiting for technology to catch up with High Definition nest cameras, and finally over the last 12 months, it’s arrived. Our project partners, Network Rail, have kindly agreed to donate the 800 metres of super fibre-optic cable that we need to connect the cameras to our visitor centre and then to the world via live streaming on our website. Fibre-optic technology will allow us to move vast amounts of video data in real time from the nest - this is possibly the first time this has been done over such a long distance in the UK. People around the world will be able to watch the Dyfi Ospreys in HD quality from their own homes.

At the end of the 2011 season, we tested one of the first HD cameras to be released in Europe that has PTZ function, Pan, Tilt and Zoom. We used the replica nest just outside the visitor centre, put two replica osprey eggs in there and zoomed in. Words cannot describe what we saw! The most clear, defined, sharp video images with unbelievable resolution and colours bursting out of the screen.

Our colleagues at Ceredigion CCTV setting up the HD camera test in August 2011 on a 50-inch screen.

The Big Pull

In order to install the 800 metres of cable, the Trust are asking for volunteers to help.

Pulling 800 metres of cable off a two-tonne drum and across a peat bog is a logistical nightmare, but with plenty of help and good coordination we can do it. We are hoping to get at least 60 volunteers who will be arranged in teams with their own team leader and a walkie-talkie. People will be ‘daisy-chained’ 10-15 metres apart in a straight line all the way from the visitor centre to the nest, and at a predetermined time we will all start to pull. If the Egyptians managed to move 100-tonne stones five thousand years ago before the wheel was invented, we're sure with good communication we can pull a two-tonne cable half a mile!

We've already marked out the route of the cable with a blue rope - here's volunteer Alan Davies

Do you want to take part in this historical event? Are you relatively fit? The Big Pull will take place on..

*****   Thursday 1st March at Cors Dyfi Reserve - Start at 10am   *****

What will you need? Time and some good quality Wellingtons, preferably Waders. It can be very boggy and wet in places. Also, bring a camera - this is a one-off event never to be repeated (hopefully!). We will provide you with as much tea, coffee and biscuits as you can consume!

As the time nears we will put more information up, so be sure to check here regularly in case there are any unforeseen changes.

Network Rail have been fantastic partners to the Dyfi Osprey Project since we started in 2009, the cameras are indeed powered by them. The Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust would once again like to thank Network Rail for their kind donation of the Super Fibre-Optic Cable. It will make a world of difference, literally.

This is what a drum of fibre-optic cable looks like - the drum will arrive at 9am on March 1st and be put on jacks so will be free-turning on an axle making the pulling easier