Looking for otter tracks (probably unsuccessfully)

[Harvestman]

Spent the weekend at a nature reserve that I am warden for. Got chatting to a couple who live in a cottage next to the site entrance. They said they had seen an otter in the stream that borders the reserve and runs past their property. The description was believable, so I thought I'd go and have a look for otter sign. A walk along the stream edge produced the following prints. I'm no tracker, so I'd appreciate any help that can be given.

For reference, there are fox and sheep in the reserve, and domestic dogs are regularly walked here as well. The knife in the pics is a trevor Ablett, and is 3.5 inches long closed.

This is the most interesting one to me


Fairly sure this is heron


Suspect dog, but not sure


No idea



I found it interesting to discover how difficult it was to find these tracks even when I was looking for the. Greatly increased my respect for those with tracking skills.

Thanks for looking.

 

[greensurfingbear]

From memory otters gave a slightly webbed print. On my reserve I tend to find Spraint rather than prints.

Where you manage? I have a reserve and country park near Newcastle airport. Also have a city Riverside park and the Newcastle section of Hadrains wall trail.



Sent via mind bullets, beware the ricochet.

 

[Bushwhacker]

What description did they give? A lot of times people do confuse otters and mink.

In the first 2 pics the prints are too small - Looks like rat hind right foot.

The next could be Heron but it all depends on size (no scale), don't rule out pheasant.

The next 2 look a bit more promising but I'm not at all sure, the size and toe shape is right and it 'appears' to have a twisted pad although there is a fair amount of slippage there. Not sure, not sure at all.

Your best bet would be to look for spraint or anal jelly secretions rather than footprints - just take a look at any raised features along the water course like a rock or log - this is the best method for knowing if there is one in the area. You can even try introducing one of these features yourself and checking it periodically. If there are no features they will do what is called 'castling' which involves scraping up the ground into a little mound and depositing on top of that.
Next, try to look for runs, slides, tracks, feeding sign , etc.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

I can't make them out.....I can't see dog there though & I'm not sure about the bird tracks.as the heron's rear toe is usually slightly off axis with the front middle toe yet on your photo they're in alignment.....

 

[Harvestman]

Thanks guys. I didn't think of pheasant, but there were certainly a few about. Small print as rat is good. I knew it was too small to be otter but I didn't know what it was.

The otter description was fine, purely on size alone. I've seen otter lots of times, and I know when a description matches. I looked for spraint, which i've also seen before, but no luck, and to be honest i was concentrating on finding prints since there was a lot of soft ground. There was also a sort of slide down to the water, which again made me think of otter.

Greensurfingbear I'm in Monmouthshire, south Wales, voluntary wardening for the Woodland Trust, although I also warden for the Wildlife trust.

Thanks anyway.

 

[Pablo]

Bushwacker is right. That could well be a rat in the first two pics. There's a shrew print in there as well. The bird print is a Heron. A pheasant would have a smaller rear 'toe'. I'm not sure about the last print. I suspect it's a dog slipping about a bit.

 

[21st century pict]

Hope this helps, here are Otter Heron and Pheasent tracks side by side just for comparison.
The stride interval in the 3rd image could be a bit short for a Heron but the toe angle looks about right, with out a scale hard to say for sure.

.

Otter and Heron with 6 inch scale.
..

 

[Harvestman]

Thanks, that is really helpful to a tracking novice like me.