OTTERLY FANTASTIC!

An otter was chosen as the Trust’s logo following a team building exercise by some of the staff at Vitacress Salads when they constructed two otter holts on one of its Alresford watercress farm which both show evidence of being occupied.

To try to capture some shots of the otters we have installed a webcam - Ottercam.

Vitacress Salads Ltd is a corporate member of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, the leading local wildlife conservation charity. The holts were built under the guidance of Graham Roberts, their South East Otters and Rivers Project Officer and representative on the Vitacress Conservation Trust.

Graham outlines some of his work with otters:

In the pre-war years hunting of otters was widespread; such pursuits are now illegal. “By the 1980s, there were probably only a handful of otters left in the county,” says Graham, “Hunting and land development had decimated their numbers.”

Graham has been working on an otter recovery programme and, after 17 years, it is showing signs of success. Graham started his work on the status of otters in southern Britain as part of a university course in environmental science and subsequently set up a trial project with the Wildlife Trust in 1989.

The programme took its first major step forward in 1994, with the introduction of three two-year-old otters – one male, two females – into the upper River Itchen, where scant evidence existed of any remaining wild otters. Within just four months, disaster struck – one of the females was found dead, struck on the roads by a vehicle. Another female was introduced, but some 12 miles further down the catchment. Would the male, paired with the existing surviving female, sniff her out?

Only a few days later came some terrible news. A male otter was reported dead on the M3, just up the way from the second release site. The programme appeared to have died with him – until the body was recovered. It was not the released male, but an unknown wild one! Perhaps there was hope for the otters of Hampshire after all.

In the following years, continued monitoring began to show that the population was slowly expanding. “Through analysing an otter’s DNA we can identify individual otters and establish where they are at any one time and where they subsequently go. Their spraints (droppings) contain a cocktail of chemical substances, but most importantly individual DNA relating to each particular otter. By analysing the DNA we are beginning to build up a picture of Hampshire’s elusive otters.”

As the work progressed, further DNA analysis revealed that otters found in two adjacent river catchments, the Test and Hamble, had originated from the nucleus population on the Itchen. The project continues with further studies being undertaken in conjunction with Exeter University to establish a robust baseline of actual otter numbers and hopefully proving that the population is no longer declining and may even be improving.

If you would like to enjoy the benefits of being a member of the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, visit www.hwt.org.uk or call 01489 774400.