The otter cameras are in a quiet phase at the moment. The previous cubs left in early May and I hope that the female may have given birth to new cubs last month. Time will tell. The dog otter was missing for a couple of weeks, probably travelling elsewhere in his territory. That's him in the photo above, wandering past a camera.
On a camera set up to look for deer one of the otters appeared making an unsuccessful attempt to catch a mallard. The video was recorded at dusk but the camera was still in daylight mode and the resulting noisy picture has been put through a denoise programme resulting in a rather "soft" image.
It was interesting to see the otter try. I suspect it was surprised to see the ducks fly off, perhaps hoping that the target was a duckling not yet able to fly or an adult in eclipse. Mallards, in common with other ducks, and geese and swans, moult all their flight feathers in one go and are unable to fly for three or four weeks, usually in July. The drakes develop a drab female-type plumage to make themselves less conspicuous. Here is a photo taken in this week in a previous year showing a drake mallard in eclipsed plumage. You'll see he has lost his normal colours to be in camouflage and has a row of pins where his new flight feathers will grow.
Perhaps the otter just got the timing wrong. Also from the past week here is a drake testing his newly regrown feathers. He'll soon get back his handsome plumage as well.
When the otters do appear on camera they are usually just wandering by. On this occasion the dog otter spent nearly ten minutes rolling on the moss but I have edited it down to just over a minute. This was also at dusk and the camera changed to infrared towards the end.
Three hours later the female came and did the same so they are still very aware of each other even though they probably rarely meet.
