Undoubtedly our most popular residents, that causes the most excitement for people. We have been monitoring the otters living at Northcroft Meadows for a few years now. Many thanks to Claire Cookson for capturing these videos for us, so we can share them with you all.
Whilst it is lovely that they are here, we do need the rest of the ecosystem to be in place to support this apex predator. Anglers are catching a reasonable variety of species and size of fish still, which indicates the habitat can support them. Because we are always focused on improving the habitat, we tend to focus on its negative aspects. So it is nice to see otters and fish are sustainable together.
We still think there is much to do, and not nearly as much fish life in the river as there historically used to be. One easy practical thing we can do, is to encourage more plant life in the river. Dense foliage in the water provides a haven for invertebrates, such as shrimp and cadis fly larvae. The foliage also provides a refuge for small fish to hide from larger predators, whether that be a fish or an otter. The plants also remove nutrients form the river, improving water quality, and turn those nutrients into the bottom of our ecosystems food chain. If we get this bit right, the rest should fall into place, all the way up to the apex predators at the top of the food chain like pikes and otters.
We were actually surveying for mink and have so far not seen any at all, which is great news!
Fabulous to see the Otters 😎. Is there any sign of them breeding yet ?
We do indeed have a family as we have seen two young pups playing in the ponds together. No video of that I’m afraid as I couldn’t get my phone out fast enough!
They seem to hunt in the river then feed in our ponds. I wonder if the adults catch fish then release them in the ponds to train their young how to hunt? Just a theory