Spring has arrived

At last you can smell spring in the air. There is a tangible sense of excitement all around as the buds begin to burst and the birds sing and dance in anticipation of the urgent need to reproduce. Along the waterways you can now se the first shoots of reed and other riparian plants beginning to show. Soon the streams and rivers I have been exploring so easily over the winter will become hidden by tall reed beds and grasses.

As the days lengthen the otter has to contend with shorter hours of darkness so it might be possible now to get a glimpse - if i'm lucky - either early in the morning or just before dusk as these otherwise nocturnal animals have to patrol their territories more frequently on the cusp of night and day.

This morning I set off just before 6am to collect my two remote cameras and to see if there was any wildlife about. As usually there was plenty of birdlife, this winter has been kind so there are lots of small birds around. There was very little else however and certainly no otters. However I was lucky enough to get just a brief glimpse of a Water Rail one of the more secretive wetland birds. They are much easier to see in the winter when he vegetation has died right back but in the summer next to impossible to find because the inhabit the dark noks and crannies at the very base of the tall reed beds and tangled vegetation along river banks.

I had moved both my cameras to the same location just beneath a small footbridge where i'd managed to capture some good footage last time I posted. Once again the otter had returned and I'd managed to capture two more good sequences.

This clip was recorded at 03:25 on 4th March 2012. If you look carefully you can see
the otter sprainting on the bricks.

This clip was recorded at 19:13 on 9th March 2012. Something has taken the otters

interest just above its sprinting brick. Again you can clearly see it sprinting.

This small bridge has been a really good location to capture footage of the otter in action. It has visited this location quite reliably. I moved both cameras to this location to see if i could capture the otter leaving the area to see where it went since above this bridge I've found no physical evidence of otter activity. The second camera yielded no footage at even on the same evening (the 9th) when both were operating less than 15ft apart. I'm beginning to wonder if this bridge actually marks the boundary of this otters territory, which would explain why there have been no physical signs above this point. This idea might be supported by the fact that in both sequences you can see the otter clearly turn round and go back the way it came. Despite the fact that there is a perfectly good river beyond this bridge this otter appears not to explore beyond this point. 

I think what I might do is try to locate a camera so that it either covers the entire bridge this way it might be easier to establish whether the otter does in fact turn round or not.