I have been hoping to get pictures of otters in the snow but while we have otters we haven't had snow. We have, however, had some pretty miserable weather recently, with ice, sleet, hail and rain. Not that the weather bothers the otters as they are impervious to cold and wet. Here is the dog on a frosty icy night. You can hear the ice crack as he comes out of the water in the first clip, see the moon on the ice in the second, and hear the crunch as he walks over the icy leaves.
The following night the mother and cub came up the same slope, showing they are just as tough. I am not sure which is which in this video. Normally the mother is always in the front with the cub following but here the second otter gives the first a shove to get a move on so I think it may be the cub in the lead. Another sign of growing independence perhaps.
And here is the dog going back down to the water in a hail shower. I continue to learn about, and experiment with, the video editing. It works best when all the cameras are on the same side of the action. Here the last one has a reversed view so I may try to adjust that next time.
Otters have amazingly thick fur to keep them warm and dry. The waterproof outer hairs, guard hairs, are up to 20mm long whilst there is a denser inner fur to provide insulation. The fur contains 60,000 hairs per sq cm, or 400,000 per sq in. Even though the fur is warm and waterproof it requires a lot of looking after, and otters spend time drying and grooming on land. I haven't yet found where they do that but if I do I'll set up some trail cameras. In the meantime I am hoping for snow. It is forecast for tonight so if it happens we just need the otters to turn up.
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