Otters

[Stewart_Bloor]

Until this season I had never seen an otter in the wild, now I've seen several. But they have all been in poor light or at distance.

 

But yesterday on the Middle Severn a pair came swimming downstream in mid-river. It was only when they were level with me that they became aware of my presence and dived.

 

It really was an incredible sight, it was still a few hours to go before dark and I had as perfect a view as you could get.

[Peter Waller]

I was piking a few years ago when I saw a duck swimming sideways! It came quite close when I realised that an otter was pushing a corpse along. It pushed it along to its holt in a ramshackle jetty.

 

One problem, the entrance was smaller than the duck. The otter tried it from all ways, twisting and turning the body, trying to guide it in. In the meantime I had stopped fishing being absolutly fascinated by its gyrations and efforts.

 

After atleast 30 minutes I quitely rowed off to collect my wife, in the hope that she could share some of this entertainment. Back we came, the otter was still at it, like someone with a Rubix Cube.

 

Eventually it clicked, the body was too big! By now it had struggled for more than an hour, but the answer was clear, pull the body to bits, and that is what it did.

 

Since then the mink population has exploded and the otters have deserted us. Thanks guys for releasing them. Not only have the otters gone but aquatic nesting birds are having their nests destroyed in large numbers.

[Stewart_Bloor]

I've seen stacks of mink, on the Severn, Teme and Dove. I watched one hunting once on the Teme, it covered every single inch of ground. No way would any nest along the water's edge have survived. It even went up a forty foot tree!

[Jonah13]

no otters at my local stillwater but there is all the normal waterfoul plus minks, bloody commerants. in fact last summer there were reports of several turtles some idiot had emptied his/her aquarium in the top lake

[Nugg]

So there we have it, the answer to the future question. Where have all the fish gone?

[SteveH]

I have seen Otters even here in yorks but will never say where as there aretoo many idiots out there that would try to kill em.

[Tony U]

I've had mink run over my foot on the River Medway at Yalding, and I found Otter spraint(crap) on the a Tribuatary the River Beult never seen an otter though.

[Peter Waller]

Nugg:

So there we have it, the answer to the future question.  Where have all the fish gone?

Yep, cormorants, otters, herons, poachers, grebes, seals, pollution, abstraction, mink and micky mouse anglers. Small wonder that there are any fish in our rivers!!

[peterthefisherman]

Saw a lovely very big otter on the Clyde at Motherwell recenty first one ever.

[chesters1]

we get anglers moaning about the heron on our pond :confused: my response is if they were that good at fishing (applies to otters as well) there would be no fish as theve been doing it for millions of years before man crawled out of caves with a head start like that if they had been any good we wouldnt have any natural fish left ,the answer to mink and corms is very different but both still the effect of human intervention in nature