Otter

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eccles

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Mike
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Spotted at Westhay Moor NNR swimming straight towards the hide as I was packing my camera in the bag. After a mad scrabble to get the camera out again I was fortunate enough to grab this one before it dived. In over ten years snapping wildlife around the west country I'd never seen a wild otter before this year. However, this was now the fourth time I'd seen one at Westhay.

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Sounds like you had a lucky day there with see it and managing to get the camera out again.


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Very good shot of a very elusive creature, is it cropped Mike?
 
Thanks all. @Ade, yes, it's quite a heavy crop. I also had to do some levels and colour temperature adjustment.
Incidentally, every time I've seen one its appearance has been preceded by almost all the wildfowl in the vicinity taking off in panic. So if you're out around wetland habitats and you see a mass of ducks taking off at once, look for the cause. It could be an aerial predator, or it could be one in the water.
 
Mike, I think you have cropped to far into it, the subject would look better if it was not quite as large in the frame. Just my opinion and it does not detract from the point that you have managed to get a shot of this fabulous creature.

I only ever see them in crap light and a long way off, so congrats for getting any reasonable shot of a wild otter.
 
Well done on seeing it and on getting the image :)
 
Thanks guys. @Ade, yep see what you mean but I wanted to make the most of the catchlights in the otter's eyes. Different viewpoints I guess. :)
 
Thanks John. Shapwick Heath is another wetland reserve a few miles south of Westhay, and there, dogs are banned completely from that reserve because they might disturb otters. In Westhay there's no such requirement except dogs are requested to be kept under close control, a request that is, regrettably, frequently ignored. All this suggests that when otters were first encountered at Shapwick they were considered so important as to restrict dogs completely from the reserve, but they have expanded their range relatively recently, and in good enough numbers to begin to be seen quite regularly. Having said that I do object most strongly to Westhay being used as a canine latrine and exercise yard.
 
eccles said:
Thanks guys. @Ade, yep see what you mean but I wanted to make the most of the catchlights in the otter's eyes. Different viewpoints I guess. :)
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Absolutely mate, life would be crap if we all liked the same thing.

Once again, well done for getting the shot.
 
Thanks Mike. It didn't sink in with me..Westhay. I've been there when Les told me about it. Just down the M5 for me, 60-odd miles.
 
Thanks again guys. For anyone making a special journey to Westhay I should warn you that when I say otters have been seen quite regularly I mean that I've seen them four times at Westhay in dozens of visits. I have also had anecdotal reports from others while there. They are, however, shy animals and the chances of seeing one in any one visit is still quite low. But relative to the number of times I'd seen them in previous years, i.e. zero, it's still a big improvement for me.
 
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