Otterly amazing part 2

The trip I had to see the otters last week was so good that I had to go and have another go. This time I went with one of my friends from Maple Lodge, Peter Jones, a very keen photographer. We met early at Maple Lodge so we were ahead of the traffic. By 7 we were pulling up on site with a bright dawn and weak sun rising. We grabbed our gear and set off on the walk to the site. After boasting to Peter how good they were last time I was a bit nervous that we would have a long morning ahead of us looking at empty river banks. As we walked down the river it was coming to life - a few brambling and siskins on a bird feeder, Mandarin ducks flying up and down the river and starlings leaving their roost in the reeds.
We finally got to the designated spot with another photographer pointing his lens down into the river. Both the mother and cub were on station and having breakfast!

Well, the cub was not actually doing very much. It was curled up on a log and not doing a lot.

Mum meanwhile was hunting in the river, diving repeatedly in the scummy area behind the logs and in the deeper faster water in the middle stream.

Every 10 minutes or so she would come back to the youngster, prompting excited squeaking as a morsel was passed across to it. It is really a very small cub. They emerge at about 4 months and this is probably not that much older. It certainly had trouble swimming when it went into the water, hence why it spent most of its time on the logs.

There were a few other stars on the river as well, especially  a very confiding grey wagtail, taking food off the surface of the water.

She must be a good otter mother as she hardly rested in getting food for herself and the cub. Interestingly they are not the only otters here as at one point another pair came past. They seemed reasonably relaxed with each other but the second pair didn't hang about.

By 9.30 we were getting peckish ourselves and certainly in need of coffee. We said goodbye to the pair and headed back to the car for our breakfast. After getting refreshed we headed off to another stop at Lakenheath. This time we were in search of another shy creature, a bittern. The reserve was very quiet but we got to the reedbed hide and set up for a long wait. Within a few minutes a bittern did fly into the reeds to our right but it promptly disappeared.

A few birds kept us amused and some other people came and went but nothing of the bittern. As lunch was approaching I finally spotted a shape on the far side of the reedbed.

The bittern finally strolled out. It didn't hang about long though. A look around, a bit of fluffing up and it flew off and out of sight.

We hung about for a bit longer but it was not going to play ball for us. Lunch called and we headed off back to the car and home. Another very successful day with two absolute stars.

Knock, knock, knocking....

Spring is arriving with a force at the moment. Buds are bursting forth, flowers are coming out and even some migrants are starting to arrive. For birders one of the spring specials are lesser spotted woodpeckers. The smaller cousins of our commoner greater spots they are much rarer and slightly mythical. They lurk in the tops of trees and are incredibly hard to find. Out of breeding season you rarely see them. In late February through early April they are mating and with that comes lots of calling and drumming. With no leaves on the trees they are also a lot easier to see.
Early morning had me at one of their known sites. They are most active just after dawn and this proved to be the case today. I was a bit late to the party and other birders on site had already seen them calling and flying around. I had to wait 20 minutes or so before I first heard drumming and then calling. Finally a very small bird, no bigger than a sparrow, flew into a nearby tree and started calling.

This was one of the females. Different to the greater spotted version in size and also with that laddering pattern on their backs. It didn't stay long and flew back away from us. No more calls whilst I was there so it is very definitely an early morning job.
After this I pottered off to a couple more sites. Weeting Heath has got its stone curlews back and I did manage to connect with one. It is an awful site for viewing them though and today proved no different. One flight view before they dropped out of sight and into the heat haze! Still, another year tick but I'll get better views later on I hope at other sites. Next was a short hop to Welney. My main target was the tundra bean geese which have been overwintering there. I got them, a group of 2 and another of 6 or 7, on a very distant spit from the main observatory.

They are one of the grey geese and have only recently split out from their cousins the taiga bean geese. They look a bit like pink-footed geese but the bill and legs (if you can see them) are diagnostic. Not much else around though the winter swans and godwits were present in good numbers.

On the way back I stopped off in the fields near Royston to see if the hares were around. Mostly they were quite distant and the wheat is now getting a bit high.

One came close to the car as it hopped through the fields. There were a good number of corn buntings jangling away on the bushes and wires which was nice.

Definitely feeling like Spring but I've yet to see a swallow!!!

Otterly amazing

We have spent hours and hours up in Scotland trying, with varying degrees of success, to find otters. They are not easy and you have to watch the tides, get local knowledge, be very quiet and be very, very lucky. Fortunately though, they are a real success story, being found in every county in the UK. They do have a mystical reputation and people (apart from many fishermen) love seeing them. Inland otters are even harder to see and are pretty nocturnal to avoid disturbance. So, when you get knowledge of a pair that that are reasonably local to you and showing well it becomes a no-brainer to go and see them.
I set out very early in order to get to the site not long after down. Best laid plans etc as some roads were closed due to roadworks. The sat nav helped me out with alternative routes but I was later than I hoped getting there. By 7 I was pulling into the parking area. I had no idea of the layout of the site so I took loads of gear and set off. The walk took me down a river bank till I got to a spot where there were some fallen trees in the water.

It didn't look the most prepossessing of areas, with rubbish and plastic bottles collecting up behind the trees. There was already another lady on site though who pointed down towards the logs and beckoned me forward.

At first I couldn't make anything out in the tangle of roots. Then a brown shape twitched and you could see an eye and a nose.

There was an otter laid up having a snooze. From almost beneath our feet there was a splash and a snort and we saw the other otter - the mother - fishing in the shallows.

As I said, not the nicest of areas with all the rubbish but she seemed happy enough. The youngster then stirred and realising it was was someway from mum swam off after her, squeaking very sweetly as it went.

For the next hour they remained near the trees which seemed a good area for fish, sometimes even coming out of the water onto the overhanging branches.

Mostly though the youngster hung about waiting for mum to bring him food!

I never saw her catch a large fish, only tiddlers like the one above. The youngster seemed happy enough though. Like all otters it was very inquisitive and spent some time exploring an otter spraint on a log nearby. I wonder if it was another one passing through, the male even??

As well as collecting up rubbish the logs also meant duckweed was help up in the shallow giving the otters a green speckled look as they surfaced.

 Eventually the pair seemed to get fed up with that area and started to head off up stream fishing and porpoising as they went.

A totally incredible experience. I have never managed to get so close to wild otters for such an extended time before. I hope the cub makes it through to adulthood without any problems. A place I will definitely come back to!!!