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Thank
You
Hi
Alan,
I'm thinking of moving to Ross with my partner and just
wanted to sing your praises. You've made it very easy to
choose Ross simply because of the amount of information
you provide. So if you ever feel it's a thankless task,
I'm thanking you now.
Regards, Nick Daly
Otters
Dear
Alan
I
have just read your news article on otters and I thought
I would send you my own experience with these fabulous mammals.
I love Ross and Herefordshire, and I fairly regularly camp
on a site near Kings Caple and Hoarwithy and have done so
since my dad took me there when I was about seven years
of age. I am now almost 39 so you can see I love the area.
I have always had a major interest in watching wildlife
and taking photographs of wildlife and it's not uncommon
to see me dressed up as a tree when I go out in the countryside
nature reserves.
What
I would like to share with you happened approximately five
years ago, in late July at a campsite (well more of a farmers
field really) when I was camping right on the banks of the
Wye.
My
girlfriend and kids had gone into the tent and were asleep
approximately 22:00hrs and I always perch myself on the
banks of the Wye at the waters edge - my favourite place
close to the wildlife. So there I was, camping stove next
to me and just drinking a freshly brewed coffee when to
the right of me something caught my eye. I turned to the
spot and it was a small wake in the river, heading towards
me, about 25 feet away. I was mesmerized and could not work
out what it was. So remaining perfectly still I waited for
the wake to get nearer and to my total surprise it was an
otter. It then left the water onto my bank and walked up
to approximately 15 feet of me. Then, to my total amazement
I noticed another otter in the river approximately fifteen
feet away from the ground based otter.
As
the otter on the ground approached me, he stopped approximately
10 feet away and looked at me. I do not believe he knew
of my existence until that point. He stayed perfectly still
until his mate in the river gave out a call, at which he
ran back into the water. They let out another call, which
I believe would have been an alarm call. They both dived
and I never saw them again.
It
was totally amazing and a great privilege to see these beautiful
creatures as I had never seen otters there before. To see
one at dusk, just about ten feet away is something I would
never have dreamed would happen that night or any other
night. It is a memory that I shall never ever forget.
The
place is also great for kingfishers and one day soon I want
to take my 800mm lens and hopefully photograph a few.
Well sorry if I waffled on a bit but reading your story
inspired me to tell you about my great experience. I just
thought you may be interested in this in case you wanted
to try to get some photographs yourself.
Thank
you for your time.
All
the best,
Malc
Goode
No
- thank you, Malc! It is nice to hear of your experience
and it would be nice to meet up when you are next in the
area. You can show me your otter spotting location and I
will show you exactly where I have seen them in the past.
I am still trying to photograph that otter on land, locally.
I was nearly successful once but was disturbed by people
whilst I was ducking down, watching an otter climb out of
the water. I managed a 'near miss' type shot - quite a good
close-up of its head but have not yet caught one completely
on dry land.
Otters
are very timid creatures, so if you let me know when you
are coming, I will dig out my camoflauge gear and largest
lens.
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