On Bank holiday Monday last week it started to rain (well it was a Bank Holiday!) so we headed into Leighton Moss to sit in one of the hides, to hide for the weather as much as the birds! We went into Lillian’s Hide and were told an otter was about. It came up briefly on the same side of the lake as the hide, being mobbed by the black headed gulls nesting nearby, before disappearing, then reappearing on the other side of the lake. It was diving and swimming underwater a lot, moving between and along the islands catching eels, sometimes disappearing off for a a while before reappearing. The second time it appeared at the back of the lake I got out my Pentax Q and the adapter (which with the 4x crop factor, on my 300mm gives me 1600mm 35mm equivalent!) and took some video. Please forgive the wobbliness, but I was balancing on a bean bag at this long focal length.
The otters are being mobbed by the Black headed gulls as they swim round, not surprising as they could probably take their chicks quite easily, but luckily for the gulls there are plenty of eels for them to eat. Ive left the sound so you can hear the noise of the black headed gull colony, so please forgive the voices in the hide, including mine! I’ve watched this a few time and I’m pretty sure there are two otters (you can hear me suggest as much!). What do you think?
Otters at leighton Moss from Neil Phillips on Vimeo.
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