I had given up hope, but it turns out I was just too pessimistic and impatient. In early November the cameras showed the mother otter moving three very small cubs a few days before the floods. There was then a sighting of mother swimming with a single cub eight weeks ago, and since then no sign of a cub, just an adult otter on its own. I had assumed that two cubs had been lost in the floods and that the third hadn't survived. But at 4 o'clock this morning...
The one cub seen in November was very small and didn't swim (or even walk) confidently but these two are now good swimmers. Unseen by the first camera one cub got out to have a look at it but another camera was watching.
I very much doubt the the third cub has survived but it will be great to watch these two as they grow up. And I'll learn to be more patient, and to have more trust in mother otters. They generally know what they are doing.
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