Otters

[rik_uk3]

I walked into Aberdare today and as usual stopped on the bridge to look into the river, most clear days you can see some Trout. Well blow me down there was an Otter sitting on a stone ledge soaking up the sun It must have spotted something in the water because it dived in and off it went and boy, they move quick.

This is a first for me and I've not heard of Otters around here, twenty miles away maybe, but not smack in a town centre.

 

[gowersponger]

your have to follow the river look for the tracks find hes hideout and watch from a distance, if you got a good camera you could try and get some good shots ive been stalking a stoat for a while but cant get a good pic

 

[Melonfish]

was out with the BTCV over the weekend and one of the lads from over mickle trafford was saying they have otters on the river Gowy! thats quite amazing as they've never recorded them being there.
there's been alot of cleanup work over the years there tho so that would probebly account for that, i would LOVE to see some

 

[rik_uk3]

I've been looking on the net and by all accounts Otters are a sign of good clean water.

I was to be honest, gob smacked by seeing the critter.

 

[mikeob]

They have been sighted near the transporter bridge in Newport. And you cannot get more industrial than that. It just shows the changes happening to the rivers in south-east Aales

 

[JonathanD]

They've ever been reported anywhere near where I live, I couldn't believe it when I saw one chomping on a fish in out local stream.

 

[Locky]

Theres otters in a stream at a small hold in bridgend

 

[locum76]

This is all good news, Otters are so cool. Perhaps rivers are getting cleaner and trout numbers are on the rise?

 

[SimonM]

Never seen a wild otter, but would love to. I have been facinated by them since reading "A ring of bright water" as a kid...You are a privileged man Rik.

Simon

 

[kilocharlie51]

Never seen one myself but hoping to having started game fishing, there's Otters on most rivers in South Wales now, even the smaller tributries.

Very sad incident on the river Neath last year, two otters found floating in a pool near to their Holt, gun shot wounds. Rumor was a local yob with form for poaching Salmon and Sea Trout killed them because they were competition, no real evidence to suggest it was him though.

If you want a good read - Tarka the Otter is an excellent book about the life of a young Otter and all the other animals he meets in and around rivers and estuaries in North Devon in the days when Otter hounds and hunts were common place.

 

[Tengu]

Ive seen otters in Scotland. From my limited experience they are `not` shy beasts.

This one popped up on a beach amungst people, not bothered at all.

The place where there is lots of otters is the Shetlands...Odly enough they are not native to those isles.

 

[badgeringtim]

The good news is that otters are on the rise in many places - not least beacause a lot of bridges and culverts are bieng made more otter friendly, but also the increasing (slowly) water quality will help.
I would say they are shy in that if they see you they will scarper even where the otters interact closely with people in disturbed areas they tend to shy away from folks when they are actually there. Industrial areas, strangely can be relatively quiet for the majority of the time.

Having said that they are mammals and might learn different in some spots!

Another plus is that, although their ranging behavior makes spotting otters often down to good knowlage and luck - but finding evidence is really quite easy, perhapse not the same, but still good to find spraint and prints!

As an aside if your lucky enought to spot an otter in the water when they are under you can move quite rapidly towards them, then pause (trying not to silouette urself) when they come up. Can get from scope viewing distance to close enough to hear the crunching of the meal if your lucky. Really try not to move when they are out of the water though!