In all my years of observing wildlife in East Anglia I have seen just three otters. That is hardly surprising since they have made a comeback only in the last decade, spearheaded by the work of the Otter Trust at Earsham and reintroductions into the nearby river Waveney.
My sighting came at the end of the second day of a cycle tour round the Suffolk coast for a series of magazine articles. I left Southwold to catch the return train at Halesworth, with enough time to call en route at Hen Reedbeds. Here for once little was to be seen from the observation platform, though the late afternoon sun was like a sheet of gold on the top of the reeds. I returned to the road and walked the few yards to the nearby WolseyBridge. Without any real attempt at a stealthy approach I climbed the few steps until I could see into the pool where the creek meets the road bridge.
Immediately
I was aware of a movement in the pool, a wide ripple, which I soon identified
as an otter, with its head and part of the body visible. I did as I always do
in such sudden encounters, that is, kept absolutely still, making no attempt to
reduce my profile or fumble for the binoculars in my rucksack. I calculated
that the otter would be used to movement from the busy road bridge and although
it initially moved further away, towards the shadows created by moored boats on
the far side of the pool, it then headed back to the middle of the pool. Then
it left, towards the bridge and here I lost it. Next came the sudden
realisation that it was probably moving under the bridge and into the reserve
so I dashed back to the road, dodged several cars, and ended up on the far side
of the bridge, looking down on to a narrow channel of water, well fringed with
thick vegetation. I was hoping to see the otter swim out right under me but the
fact that I alarmed a kingfisher which quickly flew off, suggested that it was
still under the bridge. I waited, but nothing happened, and I had only limited
time to get back to Halesworth. It probably stopped there until dusk when it
would emerge to hunt,‘crying to the
old shape of the starlit land’ as the late Ted Hughes wrote.
I was not surprised to see it so close to a busy road as there are several such instances in ‘Tarka the Otter’. Few motorists, negotiating the tight bend at the bridge, would have the opportunity to look across to the creek or reedbeds. A final thought came some weeks later when I read that Alan Miller had found exceptional numbers of water vole territories in the Hen Reedbeds reserve. Obviously suitable habitat is the key factor but I wonder if the otter’s presence is significant. Mink predate water voles but recent research suggests that otters will not tolerate mink in their territory and drive them out whenever possible.
Richard Stewart
