Just My Luck
So much of being successful in life comes down to being in the right place at the right time. I have been fortunate enough to be largely at that place at that time, and I recognise just how fortuitous I am in that regard. However, there are times when the meandering flow of luck runs a little dry; Last week was definitely one of these occurrences.
There’s one species of native mammal which I would dearly like to catch up with and I feel a little irked, and somewhat sheepish, that I have yet to see it in the wild. I’ve seen all our native deer, some of them quite regularly in the course of my work; I’ve done the crepuscular stakeout of a badger set to see the inhabitants playing at the mouth of the burrow. The little stuff, like voles (including water vole) mice (including dormice) and shrews (including pygmy shrews) are all there on my tick- list of species seen, weasels: check; stoats: check. Foxes... galore. But otters, I seem to have a jinx when it comes to otters.
I’ve been the District’s Education Ranger for six years now, how the time flies! This means that some of the really little people I met in primary school in my first summer of rangering are now in secondary school, it makes me feel quite old! During the course of those six years I have had some magnificent wildlife moments and have caught sight of most of what our District has to offer. And yet those darn otters continue to elude me.
Its probably my fault. Otters are shy, but they are far more numerous than they once were and I have seen evidence of their activity - spraints and footprints - in many of the riverside habitats I have worked in. If I had really been minded, I would have sat tight and waited like a patient ranger ought. The trouble is that I don’t have the time! There’s columns to write, events to organise and arrange, and only so many hours in the day.
Up to this point I have been satisfied that, apart from a single occasion, my lack of otter sightings was lack of good luck and nothing personal on the part of the mustelid. Until last week that is.
A couple of years ago I was following a local birder along a narrow path through a reedbed on the Axe Estuary. Reeds of over six feet were to either side of us and the path itself was narrow, with the reeds tight to our shoulders on each side. Suddenly Steve stopped in his tracks, hopped from foot to foot for a couple of seconds as if the ground below him had suddenly got terribly hot, and then turned to face me, grinning madly.
“Did you see that?” he enquired.
“No, what?” I asked, “your head was in the way, what was it?”
“An otter just jumped out of the reeds in front of us and ran along the track,” Steve informed me, still grinning.
My face must have been pretty glum looking, as the smile soon slipped from Steve’s face as he realised I had not, in fact, seen the aforementioned animal. Oh well, I thought, better luck next time.
It would seem that Steve had all the luck the next time too.
I received a text message late last week from Steve: Just been watching two otters fighting in the Borrow Pit - AMAZING!
Oh thank goodness, I thought to myself, some people deserve a lucky break! Steve was good enough to send me a full account via email when he got back to his computer.
At 9am on Tuesday 27th October, my birding day began at East Devon District Council’s Seaton Marshes LNR, this is rather late for me - I'm usually out the door at dawn, but not today, I needed some rest!
I walked straight into the Borrow Pit - a large pond surrounded by small trees with plenty of vegetation which is jointly managed by EDDC and Axe Vale and District Conservation Society.
I had spent about ten minutes here, and was standing at the water's edge on the western edge of the pond. My naked eye noticed a movement in the water along the southern edge of the pond, beside the pond-dipping platform. On looking through my binoculars I was stunned to see two Otters rolling around in the water! Unbelievable!
One seemed larger than the other, but as they were so intent on fighting neither of them saw me! Each time they rolled over a tail would rise out of the water, along with an arched back. Then one of the Otters would drop entirely under water. The larger Otter would wait and look around, then as soon as the other re-surfaced it made a bee-line for it and the fight would continue. Most of the time they would just roll over and over with their bodies locked together, but now and then they would square up to each other, face to face above the water, before trying to bite the other's neck.
On two occasions, the smaller Otter climbed out of the water and rested on the bank behind, but again, the larger one would jump straight back on top of him/her, then they'd return to the water and continue the fight.
After five minutes of watching this sensational sight, they both submerged and seemed to go their separate ways, and that was the end of it!
I suspect they were an older and a younger male, though I guess it could have been a male and a female. The fighting certainly looked pretty serious though, there was nothing 'fun' about it! I feel so lucky to have observed this - my third sighting of Otter on the lower reaches of the Axe since moving here in 1992. I just wish I hadn't left my camera in the car though...
What are the chances? The same friend who physically obscured my view of the otter two years ago, now manages to glimpse two cavorting otters at Seaton Marshes... I was only there the day beforehand! I can’t complain though, there are very few people wh spend more time in the East Devon countryside; he really puts in the hours.
At least, I thought to myself, it was a freak occurance and not something to be that gloomy about. Wrong.
Two otters have been seen on most days since that first sighting by Steve. They seem quite happy tearing about in the daytime, and were last seen by a large group of birdwatchers from the Colyford Common bird hide, who had arrived for a Meet the Birds event I was meant to be leading. I was the other side of the District cooking at an event at Darts Farm. Otters really don’t like me!
So, if you are keen to see an otter, get yourself down to the Axe estuary and spend a little time in either of the bird hides. Keep your eyes peeled and make sure you phone the Countryside Service before your visit and make sure I am safely tucked away in the Council offices or on the other side of the District!