national otter survey
During 2009 and for the early part of 2010 PTES part funded the Environment Agency to undertake a fifth national survey of otters in England, repeating and extending the coverage of previous national surveys. This will help to find out if conservation targets have been met and to identify what action is required to maintain otter recovery.
Thank you to everyone who sent in their records. We will make the maps and results available to view here once the Environment Agengy publish them.
The otter, Lutra lutra , is a near threatened, UK BAP priority species which suffered a significant decline in the late 1950’s to the late 1970’s. Although the trend over the previous four national surveys in England has shown a gradual but slow recovery from a severely low population, the last survey still showed 66% of surveyed sites with no evidence of otters.
Stephen Powles, a vet in rural Mid Devon, spends much of his time taking photographs of challenging subjects by remote techniques. He has sent us the fantastic photo above and video of an otter in a local stream. Stephen is keen to share his findings with anyone researching otters, tawny owls or hornets.
