Otters

[Joella52]

Recent news speaks of otters being more widely spread with signs of their presence in almost every UK county. Great news but I have to agree with Dr Paul Yoxon (of International Otter Survival Fund) who responded to the Guardian's report about the results from the 2009/2010 survey by the EA in yesterday's Guardian by suggesting a note of caution.
Meanwhile my otter obsession continues to take me out in all weathers along the banks of Hodder and Ribble in Lancashire hoping for tell tale signs.
The other day I found the attached spraint (?) Approx 8-10 cm long and on a rock next to the water's edge. Anyone fancy shattering my dreams? Is it otter? Can you tell?
I love that Dr Yoxon warns that a spraint may not mean the otter is living in the river but may be passing through (passing though? That surely is the very definition of spraint!)
Anyway.. please let me know your thoughts on this.
joella

[The Woodman]

Hi Joella52 and welcome to WAB

Your image does look like an otter spraint and although I can't enlarg it there appears to be remains of signal crayfish in it.
The recent EA otter survey used two methodologies. The first involves a survey of alternate 50 km squares containing 600m transects from a readily identifiable start point (normally a bridge) on a particular bank in a given direction. These sites have been visited on all previous surveys. Secondly, the remaining 50km squares were spot visityed and presence or absence recorded at up to ten bridge sites in a 2x2km square.
Survey signs were limited to spraint, prints and actual sightings.
It is possible to visit sites and survey a 600m transect on one bank and not find evidence. The surveyor might see spraint on a root on the opposite bqnk but it wouldn't get recorded. A beach transect ina tidal area can be hit and miss too for all sorts of reasons.
There were some negative sites on the Ribble and Hodder that mighjt have been expected to show otherwise e.g. Upstream of the Ribble M6 bridge on the left bank and the right bank ledge under Dunsop Bridge but the adjacent sites were positive.
Individual sites results shouldn't be taken in isolation but the wider picture interpreted. Upland sites supporting fewer animals due to prey availability will show fewer positive sites in a snapshot survey because the animals will be in one arra at the time of survey.
I do find the lack of positive sites in Kent rather strange as there have been records from recent years there.

[Joella52]

Thanks for the response Woodman. In the original much larger picture it does appear to contain bits of shell near the top of the spraint. I guess I was just a teeny bit concerned that it wasn't mink- but I smelt the spaint and it was not in the least unpleasant (so I felt fairly confident)also it was fairly large I thought for mink- maybe a poorly mink!
Thanks also for the details about how the survey was conducted. I found the spraint on the Hodder near to the Wild Boar Park (so near to Whitewell area) Whilst eating a celebratory sandwich there I also saw dippers and a kingfisher which I hope also indicates a healthy river.
I would love to help on an otter survey and have asked local wild life trust to keep me posted.
Meanwhile I will continue to spy for signs on my walks and dream that one day I will see an otter in my own home river (seen 6 so far but in Wester Ross)
Thanks again for the advice and input. Jo

[The Woodman]

An apology - where I said 2 x 2 km read 10 x 10 km in my first post.

If you visit sites regularly in an area you might like to record what spraints you find and monitor their aging process. This will help you to determine the three commonly used terms - fresh, recent and old.

Spraint analasys can be rewarding. The Mammal Society's booklet "A Guide to the Identification of Prey Remains in Otter Spraint" is good but contains many saltwater species, you aren't going to get many of those around Whitwell!

Identification of Prey Remains in Otter Spraints

Due to the huge amount of spraint collected and submitted in the EA survey, I've suggested to the MS that a revision of the booklet could contain expanded freshwater species including the crayfish if a cooperative approach could be possible and funded.

Also consider passing your field records to your local mammal recorder. Tony Parker is the Curator of Zoololgy at Liverpool Museum would add your records to the Lancashire database. His email is tony.parker@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

Not all spraints are as big as the one you found, some are very small and contain nothing more than a blob of anal jelly or look like a small dark patch of tar on a rock. At this time of year salmonid fish are spawning and you may see undigested eggs in spraints - little pink balls.

Good luck and I hope you see an otter before too long.

[nigel_b]

It's a bit hard to say for sure but from your description particularly of the smell it probably is otter spraint yes. I'd say it's probably not very fresh though as it looks to have dried out quite a bit.