An update from OtterCam

I don't see otters when I go in to check my trail cameras but I sometimes wonder if they see me. In the past I have had an otter recording only a couple of minutes before I arrived.  This time the otter turned up 20 minutes after I left.  I wonder if it had been waiting until the coast was clear. You will have guessed that the photo at the top is a composite but it does give an opportunity to show the size of a female otter.  Here's the video.

The female and the dog otter are still appearing on the cameras regularly.  Here they are visiting a popular scent-marking spot two hours apart earlier this week.

It isn't always easy to judge the size of an individual otter on the trail cameras, especially at night, but here is a direct comparison between the dog (top) and female (below) from the video.

Two more views of the female from the same video.  After all the excitement of courtship in early May I had hoped new cubs might be born in July and might appear about now.  However, her shape here suggests she is pregnant, in which case we won't see the cubs out and about until next year.  I sent the photos to Vivien Kent, our local otter expert, and she agrees the otter looks pregnant.  It may be that a previous pregnancy didn't go well or I suppose this could even be a different female.  Whatever the explanation I suspect we won't now see cubs for another three or four months.

I have had several recent recordings of the dog rolling and grooming on the old bridge.  This seems to be one of his favourite spots.

And here he is again.

I am checking the cameras every three or four days at the moment.  Whenever the new cubs appear you will be the first to know.