OTTER AT CARLTON MARSHES

   On Thursday morning I had been over to Minsmere and seen three Otters from Island mere hide but none of them had been close enough for photographs so I moved onto SWT Oulton marshes in  the hope of some more Short Eared Owls but there was no sign of any there, finally I decided to call in at SWT Carlton marshes on the way home to have a quick wander around. I walked to the bottom of the car park and turned right, along the footpath, intending to walk along the flood defence wall to the bottom of the reserve before heading back to the car. I only managed to get 50 yards before spotting a disturbance in the water of the dyke and saw a large tail briefly before disappearing under the water, an Otter! Standing still I focused the camera on the water but it was so close that I had difficulty getting the lens to focus when the otter stuck its head up and looked right at me and I got the shot you can see above.

   The Otter then moved to my left and I quietly made my way along the bank to get ahead of it and try to get further pictures. This I did several times over the next few minutes struggling to find a clear area of bank to get good photos. The Otter didn't seem to bothered by me and would swim past sometimes within 10 feet of me, too close for the lens to focus, making me wish I had a smaller lens on the camera but eventually I managed to get some shots of the Otter swimming through the duck weed infested dyke. It appeared to be feeding on the numerous Sticklebacks that can be seen in these dykes and by the number of times it was surfacing crunching away was having no trouble catching them. It was amazing to be so close to a wild Otter and not only observe it, but also hear it whilst it was fully aware of my presence.

   One thing that could be readily noticed about the Otter was the fact that it had an obviously damaged nose. To my limited knowledge of Otters this may have been caused by fighting with another Otter or possibly through mating if this animal was a female as the males are known to grab and bite the females nose as they mate. At one point the Otter came out of the water to cross the path before going into another dyke system but because it was so close to me I couldn't get any pictures; very frustrating! This encounter certainly made my week and although I regularly see these beautiful animals out in the wild on my wanders to see one at such close quarters was very special.