Otters

[feathered-friend]

2 weekends ago. On a lovely sunny Saturday morning we saw what we believe were 2 otters enjoying a swim and a frolic in the river at the bottom of the garden.

A fantastic site and the first time we have seen otters in the wild. Mind not seen them since so maybe they were just passing through.

Just wanted to share this info. with WAB members as I have not told anyone here in France. (Many hunters here)

[vole-woman]

Wow! Wouldn't it be fantastic if they came again and you got a picture of them?

[ron1863]

That must have been very exciting for you. We have a river running along the bottom of our garden and there are Otters on the river but we have never seen them, still, one day hopefully.

[Nightranger]

Originally Posted by ron1863

That must have been very exciting for you. We have a river running along the bottom of our garden and there are Otters on the river but we have never seen them, still, one day hopefully.

'River' otters are always harder to see because they tend to be shy compared to coastal animals. I know there are otters along various stretches of river here in Lancashire but I have never (yet) even seen signs let alone a view of the otters themselves. One of the problems I have found in otter tracking is to get down at the otter's eye level because many of the streams and rivers around here are subject to huge surges in wet weather. This means (potential) spraint sites would often have to be a long way from low water levels. This is not a problem for otters (Mike Dilger showed spraint sides on a canal towpath on the One Show) but it makes a difference when assessing a likely boulder that otherwise seems perfectand understanding why it is not used. Of course, the other problem here is that I am not sure if there is any clear indication of how dense the population is.

[feathered-friend]

Thanks for the replies. I have seen one of them a couple of times since I first posted but not time enough to get a camera.

Actually need to get a better camera the one i have got would not get a good image.

[Rob_D]

I am very jealous and I do hope you get a good picture too.

Sadly, this morning I found a dead one on the A1 only about 5km from my house. I get the feeling it was working along the stream, got to the culvert under the A1 and decided to go over the road (a very busy dual-carriageway) rather than under it. Perhaps the culvert was full because of the recent heavy rain. It's a pity we can't do more to stop that sort of situation, because if that scenario was right, its death might've been avoided by altering the culvert so it could still get through after heavy rain.

Almost zero chance of seeing one alive near here I think, though I have just been told of a place that has had regular sightings, so maybe one day if I spend enough time I might get very lucky.

[The Woodman]

Hi Rob D
Your local Environment Agency ecologist would be happy to accept the carcass, however damaged or flat for further analysis.

As for condition of carcasses I was told by the analyst when asked, "If you can scrape them of the road, we can get something useful from them."

They'll need an accurate grid reference, date etc.

Good luck.

[Rob_D]

Thanks, any idea how to contact them? I sent a message to the Beds Mammal recorder, but it's very difficult to find the one for Herts.

[Jim Ford]

How about reporting it here:

Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust

('Wildlife Sightings' link near bottom of LH panel)

Jim

[Rob_D]

Thanks Jim, but the corpse was actually just inside Bedfordshire (on the Beds side of the A1!). I already emailed the Beds Nat Hist Soc. I also posted on the Yahoo birds forums for Beds and for Herts with the details, so maybe someone will pick it up from that. I'll keep trying to find the local EA ecologist, but that might have to wait until Monday when they man their phones again.