Rare but welcome river dweller

Otters are making a comeback. Graham Holliday reports

Otter numbers throughout the United Kingdom declined from the 1950s as a result of pesticides entering the food chain.

This large fish and crab-eating predator, about the size of a small dog, can be found in rivers, lochs and the sea and is often nocturnal although you might catch it fishing by day in more remote areas. The European otter is the only species found in the UK and is related to other members of the weasel family, namely badgers, weasels, stoats, pine marten and mink.

The otter is listed in the International Union for the Conservation of Natures' (IUCN) Red Book as ‘vulnerable to extinction', but it is thought to have made a comeback in recent years and can be found throughout Scotland in reasonably healthy numbers.

The most recent government surveys in 1996 found 6,600 otters in Scotland out of a UK total population of 7,350. The latest survey results are due by the end of 2004.

The viewing hide at Kylerhea Otter Haven Car Park on the Isle of Skye is a good place to see otters with views across the Kylerhea narrows to Glenelg and the Kintail mountains. Skye and the surrounding small islands are home to 353 otters.

Otter researcher, Dr. Paul Yoxon of the International Otter Survival Fund, is based in Broadford on the Isle of Skye and gets the occasional good view of otters from his office.

Otter territory can cover between one and three kilometres along the seashore and between five and 20 km along freshwater rivers and lakes. However, otters do not migra...

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• By : Graham Holiday
• In : Wildlife
• Issue : 18
• Page : 22
• Words : 980