Otter Consultants

We are otter consultants with experience in carrying out otter surveys on watercourses of all sizes.

We have held licences for working within otter habitats on variuos sites and will advise on the best methods of work to avoid disturbance to the otters habitat.

General Otter Information.

Otters are nocturnal and are active all year round. They are large with an adult male reaching 1.2m from nose to tail and weighing about 10kgs.

Otters live by undisturbed waters where there is plenty of cover, mostly by freshwater lakes, rivers and quiet small streams as well as some coasts.

Fish are the otter's main source of food, especially eels and they therefore rely on good fish populations. They also eat amphibians and the occassional bird and small mammal.

An otter may use over 40km of river and needs many resting places throughout this range. A female otter will give birth to 1 to 3 cubs in a natal holt which is often away from the main river and must be completely undisturbed.

Generally the only evidence seen of the otter is its faeces or 'spraint', which are deposited along a watercourse in prominent positions.

Once found throughout Britain, most of our otter populations crashed in the 1960's due to poisoning from agricultural pesticides which drained into our river systems. Although this threat has passed and otter numbers are slowly beginning to recover, they are still subject to a number of serious pressures.

• Habitat loss through intensive river management for drainage and flood defence and due to agriculture and urban development.
• Inadequate food supplies, mainly fish.
• Disturbance of breeding sites by people and especially dogs.
• Low water quality and low river flows.
• Roads which cross or run alongside rivers.

The otter is fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It is an offence to kill, injure or knowingly disturb an otter or to damage and otter's resting place.