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Otter

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(Courtesy of the Northumberland Biodiversity Partnership)

The Eurasian or European otter is a native to Britain and is one of its largest carnivores. A full-grown male otter averages 1.2m in length and weighs about 10.5kg. Females are smaller, weighing in at about 7kg and reaching little more than 1m in length. The otter is beautifully adapted to its semi-aquatic life style. It has a long stream lined body powered by a thick rudder like tail and webbed feet on short powerful legs. The coat is waterproof and consists of 2 layers, a thick under layer of insulating down like fur and an outer layer of longer guard hairs that trap air to form an insulation layer between. Much of their life is actually spent out of the water sleeping; with hunting bouts rarely lasting longer than half an hour. They are active at any part of the day but are usually nocturnal in reaction to the ease of catching the available prey.

At present every river catchment in Northumberland boasts signs of otter. In more recent years they have even started to populate urban centres such as Blyth, Morpeth and Newcastle upon Tyne. In many cases however, this expansion is into largely ‘unsuitable' areas, which support impoverished prey resources and poor habitat qualities. Improvements in water quality and habitat have been largely responsible for the return of the otter to Northumberland's rivers. This has led to its much increased distribution in the past 5 years. It has also led to the sharp increase in the number of fatalities on the region's roads as the population expands to seek new territory. It is far too early to understand what impact this will have on a population of animals that naturally live at relatively low densities but it is understood that the majority of fatalities are young, fit and healthy individuals.