Although I’ve seen them elsewhere it must be at least three years since I saw an otter anywhere near home here in West Cumbria. Others have mentioned them, but they’ve never appeared on cue for me.
Then today, as I was out photographing birds in trees, a lady stopped me and said, “There’s an otter in the pool further along.” Off I went to take a look.
Sure enough, just as I arrived at the spot she’d mentioned an otter broke the surface of the water, across the other side near the reeds. Up went my camera for a quick burst of shots. No time to think about perfect settings. Fortunately the shutter was set fast enough to freeze the otter’s movements.
Almost immediately another otter appeared and they swam together along the side of the reeds, the one in front periodically looking round as if to check that it was being followed.
So, two otters! A man standing there said that earlier there had been three. But now, these two having gone into the reed bed, there were none. I’d had my ten second sighting. I waited around for a while but it seemed they’d finished their show for the present.
Another photographer standing there started to talk about the dangers to otters and how they’re still persecuted. He argued that we shouldn’t publicise their locations as it just helps those who would happily come along with a shotgun. For a long time I’ve felt it right to keep secret the nest locations of some birds but now I’m adding otters to my list of “I’m not saying where this was” species, so that’s all for this afternoon. Cheerio.
