otter trotting down a country lane?

[Surprised]

Hi
Am slightly shocked. Checked on the net and apparently otters are back in shropshire after some time absent. I never new they were here at all.
Incredibly, I'm fairly sure I just saw one hopping down the roadside. I'm no expert but it was quite a weighty looking creature. Too big for stoat/weasel or similar. Very distinctive loping characterful movement. River severn is very nearby, within a couple of hundred metres I guess without further investigaton.
Is this sounding possible to anyone?
My head is asking questions about Mink, but are they exactly like otters in size and movement?

[vole-woman]

They move in the same loping manner but they're pretty dark, almost black, and they're a bit smaller than otters. I saw a mink cross the road in north Shropshire just last month.

However, that's not to say what you saw wasn't otter. There are otters in Shrewsbury, and round my town which is on the Shropshire/Cheshire border. If a canal or river runs right by the road, then an otter might be seen on the verges, I'd have thought.

[Johnny Redgate]

Otter are certainly present on the Rivers Clun and Teme and I would guess fairly widespread in Shropshire.