Monty the male osprey at the Dyfi Osprey Project has recently returned to his his old nest site following a winter spent on the west coast of Africa.

But his former partner Nora has not put in an appearance yet. He and Nora have raised four chicks at the Cors Dyfi reserve.

Nora may have returned to Rutland Waters in England where she was born or simply not have survived the treacherous migration back to Wales but staff haven't given up hope yet.

Warden Emyr Evans is hopeful that Monty and Nora's older first chick Einion will also return to the area if only to scout for a suitable habitat for himself and a partner next year.

But Mr Evans said all their eyes are upwards to see if Nora will find her way home and pair up again.

He said: "The wind is favouring migratory birds now so she could be on her way."

A new unringed female named Elin arrived on 5 April but Monty doesn't seem too interested in her and has been seen 'mantling' - displaying defensive behaviour on the nest.

Monty a male osprey has returned to the Dyfi Opsrey Project in 2013 with a new female.

With sub zero temperatures upon us, RSPB Cymru is advising people to make sure their bird feeders and tables are full of high energy foods.

Richard James, one of the RSPB’s wildlife advisors, said: “The sudden drop in temperatures across Wales and the UK will have been a big shock to birds’ systems after spending the past couple of months with few worries in terms of food availability.

Thanks to the recent mild weather, many natural food sources have been readily available and water has been easy to come by. Now the snow and ice are here birds will need all the help they can get to survive the winter.”

A blue tit at a feeding station in winter by Eddie Evans.

Great news for the team up at the RSPB Glaslyn Osprey Project as the first of three osprey eggs hatched today.

The first osprey egg of 2012 in Wales was laid at the Glaslyn Osprey Project near Porthmadog last night and was spotted by wardens this morning.

The female laid her first egg two days later than last year on 4 April, and has been sat on the nest throughout the night, getting up to feed briefly this morning.

Geraint Williams, Osprey Project Officer said: "The ospreys have been busy getting their nest ready and bringing moss and twigs to build it up. The nest diameter is currently two metres in size."

The team are hoping more eggs will follow over the next few days. Each egg will then be incubated for around 37 days, which means the first egg should hatch around the beginning of May.

There's a nice update here from the Dyfi Osprey Project. The first chick to leave the nest last year was called Einion and thanks to GPS tracking, we know that he's alive and well and currently holidaying in West Africa.

Einion set off in the morning from Mid Wales on 31 August and by late afternoon was already in Plymouth. The following day he was in Brittany and the next, northern Spain.

Recently I've been trying my best to attract a few more birds to BBC Wales HQ here in Llandaff. When I say birds, I mean small, interesting ones rather than the feral pigeons and herring gulls that line the rooftops here every single day of the year.

It's not to say that we live in a wildlife wilderness though. We have plenty of grey squirrels - no black ones yet! And there's a resident sparrowhawk nearby that takes out the odd pigeon from time to time.

We also have a green woodpecker in the top Ty Oldfield car park that regularly waddles around a small, grassy area in search of worms and a fairly tame raven that croaks occasionally.

I heard some tawny owls calling at night a few weeks ago in the woods beyond the car park and they're quite active at this time of year - defending their territories in preparation for an early breeding season.

As the milder weather continues, our wildlife is becoming increasingly confused with the fact that we are still actually in winter.

Yesterday I visited Merthyr Mawr with my 2 year old son and his friend for a spot of 'dune surfing' on a snow sledge - hard work dragging/ carrying him back up to the top each time but good exercise and I probably burned off more calories than the fitness 'boot camp' that arrived later!

But getting back to the wildlife...on our way to the dunes, I noticed the verges were full of flowering snowdrops, but aside from the unseasonally early blooms, I didn't see many birds?

This was in stark contrast to a recent visit to Penbontrhydyfothau in North Pembrokeshire. The weather was bitterly cold with NE winds and Penbontrhydyfothau lies in a pretty shady valley but prone to frosts.

As a result the garden bird feeders, packed full of peanuts were absolutely buzzing with life - with non-stop visits from blue tits, great tits, coal tits, house sparrows and nuthatch. I also saw my first bullfinch of the year, such a plump and beautiful bird (the male anyway) but rarely seen these days.

I'd not seen that many birds in a single garden for years, especially when compared to my relatively quiet garden in Porthcawl where frosts are rare - thanks to the close proximity of the Bristol Channel.

Apart from crows, seagulls, the odd territorial robin and occasionally alarmed female blackbird diving into the hedge - I've hardly seen anything of real interest in my garden all winter long.

It made me think about a recent email I received to wales.nature@bbc.co.uk from a gentleman who was very concerned about the lack of house sparrows in his garden. A once thriving population, basically vanished from his garden during the autumn.

The RSPB have also been inundated with similar enquiries asking 'where have all the garden birds gone?'

Don't panic, it's not down to some mysterious migration pattern, an increase in the local cat population or the neighbours having tastier morsels on their bird feeders - it's simply due to the fact that birds are currently finding easy pickings out in the countryside. Birds in the countryside? I know, it's absurd!

The mild weather means that there are still plenty of insects around and the ground is still soft enough for birds to easily forage for their favourite bugs and grubs.

Yesterday I even found a bright green caterpillar chomping its way through an exotic plant I've been carefully nurturing in time for summer.

I'd put it in the garage to protect it from frost and mistakenly assumed it would be safe as the leaves are covered in fine, spikes (which would make them fairly unappealing to most creatures) but this little critter was right at home, so perhaps he came with the plant?

I put up some fat balls outside for the birds a month ago and they are still intact, vitrually untouched - so the birds are clearly finding food elsewhere.

However, we're not out of the woods yet and if the weather does suddenly cool down - food will literally become scarce overnight and birds will once again flock to our gardens, towns and cities for those life saving handouts.

So, don't stop putting food out altogether - but equally don't worry if your feeders aren't busy.

Lyndsey Maiden, a warden from the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales has been in touch with some peculiar wildlife observations in South Wales such as a robin sitting on a nest and currently incubating 5 eggs in Bridgend.

It would good to know what the earliest record of a fledgling in Wales is, as we might just have some local contenders in our midst.

Magpies have been spotted flying around with nesting materials in their beaks and in Morriston Park a nuthatch has been seen flying in and out of a nesting hole.

Meanwhile in the city, coots are mating and building nests at Bute East Dock in Cardiff.

A hedgehog has been spotted out and about in Carmarthenshire and more and more birds are now beginning their dawn chorus including collared doves, song thrushes, blackbirds and robins.

Personally, I'm still hoping we do get some snow in February so I can try out the sledge on snow rather than sand but the Met Office seems to be 50/50 at the moment - depending on which weather model you opt for - remaining mild with occasional cold snaps or snow with hard frosts from the north east.

I'd love to hear about your unusual and unseasonal wildlife sightings so please leave yours in the comments box below or drop me a mail at wales.nature@bbc.co.uk

I was only blogging about this last week and wondering when we were going to see more starling 'murmurations' happening in Wales when this News online story appeared about the Llanelli Wetland Centre.

The reserve believe that around 100,000 starlings have recently arrived to roost there over winter. Safety in numbers, helps keep the birds safe from predators such as owls and peregrines and the way the reed beds have been cut make an ideal habitat for roosting birds.

I recently saw a few thousand starlings flying over Kenfig Reserve, so wonder if these birds were making their way over to Llanelli?

Apparently if you want to see the starlings in action then the best time to visit is around 3.30pm each day.

I was just searching online for information about crows doing a similar thing (as I have a huge flock living opposite my house that put on a spectacular show at dawn and dusk) when I stumbled across this jaw dropping video clip of starlings flying over the Shannon River in Ireland. It is probably the best footage I have ever seen of this phenomenon.

Incidentally, a large flock of crows however is called a 'murder', not so glamorous but equally impressive if you've ever seen them in action.

So, have you spotted any large starling flocks yet? If so, let me know and leave a comment below and we can try and work out where the best ones are currently happening in Wales.

The mild autumn weather has meant late sightings of summer migrants, late broods of young for birds like blue tits and empty feeders as birds were still finding food further afield.

Derek Brockway is warning of unsettled and changeable weather ahead with some short, sharp cold snaps which could have a significant impact on the needs and behaviour of garden birds.

Dana Thomas from RSPB Cymru, says: "The sudden change in weather almost certainly means that garden birds will start to turn up in gardens en masse one again, hoping to find supplementary food and water."

The more exotic looking winter birds are beginning to arrive in Wales now and as usual, our Flickr group members have been first on the scene. Here's a taster of what we've received recently.

These shots of an Isabelline wheatear on North Gower have caused quite a stir amongst 'twitchers' as these birds are extremely rare visitors to Britain. Only 27 have been recorded since the 1800s and this is only the fourth sighting ever, in Wales.

I spent a very calming couple of hours at the National Wetland Centre Wales in Carmarthenshire this week, or Penclacwydd as it's also known.

At the centre, they've just finished restoring three salt water lagoons, making it easier to spot some of our annual Winter visitors.

My guide was Dominic Carmichael who is the Learning Manager at the site and with his expertise I was able to pick out some of the many water birds across the salt marshes.

It was a misty day, with Penclacwdd only just visible on the other side of the estuary. Directly in front of us but some distance away was a little egret, a member of the heron family, standing alone waiting for the tide to go out so that he could start feeding.

Watch a clip of the reserve on BBC Wales Nature & Outdoors.

Also present were black-tailed godwits which the centre is renowned for - stopping off in West Wales as they make their way South from Iceland for the winter.

Members of the public are being asked to contact the RSPCA with information about Manx shearwaters blown off-course during a storm yesterday.

Hundreds of young birds have already been rescued after being blown inland on their migratory flights.

Skomer warden for the Wildlife Trust, Chris Taylor, said: "They are hardy little birds, really well designed for long distance flying.

"The young ones are probably the majority of birds that ended up on Newgale beach. Sadly this big storm, the biggest winds we've had on the island since March time, has hit them. It's really bad timing really.

BBC Wales News full story.

Garden owners, nature lovers and birdwatchers are being asked to look out for examples of avian pox which has started affecting garden birds in Wales.

A rare lesser flamingo chick hatched on Thursday, 21 July at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Llanelli - only the second one to be hatched in captivity in the UK.

The first lesser flamingo chick to be hatched in captivity was at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire in July 2006.

The lesser flamingo egg was actually incubated by Caribbean or American flamingo to improve its chances of survival. The flock actually form a creche to care for their young, so the new arrival will receive better care staying with the Caribbean flock.

Watch footage of the egg being incubated by Caribbean flamingo on You Tube.

Read more about this story on BBC News.

I woke up this morning and was busy putting out the recycling when I spotted and almost stepped on a juvenile, female blackcap lying on the path.

I believe it to be a female as it had a light brown crown rather than the darker, chestnut brown found on the males.

I hoped it was just stunned after flying into a window or something but sadly it was dead. It had died fairly recently too as it was still slightly warm but the onset of rigor mortis had already begun.