Thetford in Norfolk is the fictional town of Walmington-on-Sea, the setting for the T.V. programme Dad's Army, but it is now famous for something more up my street, otters. Wild Eurasian Otters have been seen using the river that runs through the town since last year and are remarkably confident around humans. Sightings are unbelievable and reliable and as I have only seen one wild otter in my life before, yesterday was the day that I decided to change that.
The day dawned bright, but as is usual at the moment, distinctly chilly, but Lisa and I pressed on with our planned trip. On arrival at the site, outside Argos and a rather run down shopping centre, several photographers were seen, but no otters. A walk along the river produced nothing other than a Muntjac deer and a rather large rat and so we decided to have some lunch, meeting numerous people with tales of how marvellous the otters are and how well they were showing a while ago, great! After lunch we walked the other way along the river, reaching a dam/weir with people pointing and looking and photographing something. Lisa saw it first (she always does!), an otter was coming our way! Swimming nonchalantly past us, checking us out as it went, stopping occasionally to mark its' territory and making its' way along the river. I could not believe what I was watching, a wild otter, not four feet away from me, these animals are supposed to be timid, aren't they? We watched this animal for a while, we saw it catching a few fish and leaping from the river like a dolphin! At one point it came out of the river and practically sat on my feet!
Unbelievable views of a really unbelievable animal.
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| Having a scratch! |
That is very special John.
ReplyDeleteIt was special Roy, if a little surreal!
DeleteJ
Great pictures and video.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gillian!
DeleteJ
Fabulous photos and video John. I'm so glad you found it. What a privilege to see it so closely. I found myself hoping the shopping centre is not in the town and only accessed by car to protect the Otter from ignorant yobs with ill intent....stones, air guns etc. ....I fear that might be the case in those sort of areas here.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jan,
DeleteI am afraid to say that the site in question is slap bang in the middle of the town! I don't think you have to worry though, the otters have apparently been here for months and have yet to encounter any adverse reaction, apart from a couple who had their pond raided while they were away on holiday. They couldn't believe that otters would eat their beloved fish!!
J
Gobsmaking views and great photos John. I can hear your incredulity in your words! We've got Otters along our river and I've been lucky enough to get a quick view one morning, but not enough for photos! Well done! (-:
ReplyDeleteThanks Jenny!
DeleteIt was very weird, everything that I have heard/read about otters has now been blown out of the water. The only thing that concerns me is the fact that these animals are so used to humans that they won't 'run' from one that wants to do harm. Hopefully that won't happen.
J
Brilliant photos John. I can tell you were absolutely thrilled at the experience, as I would have been in your shoes.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know about the Thetford / Walmington relationship.
Thanks John,
DeleteYes, it was pretty amazing!
They have a statue of Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring close to the area where the otters are seen and a Jones butchers!
J
Found your blog while looking for information about them thar Thetford otters... my brother has just posted some pix of them on flickr... don't get otters here, unfortunately, but that's made up for by the Water Vole that lives just outside the kitchen window!
ReplyDeleteWe also get Muskrat... cute and nice to watch... and not nearly as destructive to the banks of the millstream and river as the Coypu are... and, unfortunately, despite the efforts of thye local hunt, there are at least half a dozen on the millstream alone.
Would much rather have otters....
Tim, Aigronne Valley Wildlife
Thanks for your visit and comment Tim! Otters are now thankfully present in every county in Britain, although not all of them are as approachable as the Thetford ones! It would be nice to see a few more wild mammals in our countryside, but, alas that isn't to be.
DeleteI will try and check out your brothers photos, I am sure they are better than mine!
J