Otter spectacle
Otter lifestyle
Otters are very interesting animals. These amphibious mammals live a quiet and solitary life. Trying to photograph them is a real challenge, since they are mainly nocturnal. These fish eating predators are very good indicators of the health of an ecosystem and are therefore key species in nature conservation.
Although otters are very difficult to find and observe, some places exist where otters can be observed without much effort. At these places otters are different, in this regard that they are also active during the day. In the Netherlands there was such a location where, for some time, an otter could be observed throughout the day. This gave much insight in its behaviour and gives everybody a chance to meet a wild animal.
On an earlier occasion I had seen an otter at this particular location. It was mid winter and the water was covered with a thin layer of ice. This particular individual was fishing under the ice. Every time I had no clue where it was, when it suddenly popped out it’s head above the water throught the layer of ice. The loud cracking sound was the perfect trigger to swing my camera around and focus on the animal. Most of the time it had caught a fish and started munching away after which it went down and was fishing again. My hand were getting very cold and I could bearly operate my camera anymore.
Meeting again
Later I asked my father to join me looking for otters. When we, at some point, arrived at the spot the otter was nowhere to be seen. We had waited for about an hour when suddenly we heard the otter quite close by. It was eating a fish it had just caught. It went off to catch another fish and again ate it less than 5 metres from where we were sitting. This cycle repeated a couple of times.
Since citizen science in the Netherlands is very well established, and the data very accessible for everybody, many people contribute to these science projects, logging their encounters with wildlife. The data is then used in research and nature conservation initiatives. Since the otter place was logged on these platforms, a lot of people knew of the spot and visited it regularly.
It is very nice to share a special place with others, who you know will act responsibly, which was the case at this particular spot. What was also interesting with this particular otter was, that it was in no way scared of human presence. It did not care at all. Of course this is not normal behaviour. Maybe this otter hadn’t experienced any negative thing regarding humans. I hope this presumption is right, because then it tells us that human activity will not necessarily be bad for wildlife. As long as we act responsibly and protect our natural environment. The sad thing, however, is that at a certain moment the otter decided to move to a different place and has not been observed since. For me it was time to continue and find another subject, but the memory will last.
Otter swimming with ice on its head
Otter caught fis
