You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
We were out biking the Taff Trail earlier and stopped to admire the copious amounts of litter in what was an otherwise beautiful river. Just as I was moaning about what an eyesore it was, a small dark furry creature scurried up a part submerged tree trunk over a pink plastic tricycle and disappeared under the mountain of crap into the river.
It looked otter shaped but it was small, I think about 40 cm long. It also looked very dark, almost black but it was very wet.
I watched it for about six seconds and it was only about four meters away, we were up on a bridge looking straight down on it.
So.
Was it an otter and if not what was it? I've lived in Salford so I know it wasn't a rat.
Cheers
Might have been a mink.
Salford.
40cm.
I'd say a rat... But rats look very different to otters. They are not easily confused.
Otters are quite big - at least cat sized.
Possibly a pole cat otters are pretty big.
Probably a mink.
Mink possibly
How big would last year's juvenile otters be at the moment? It was slightly smaller than a cat would be if it had just crawled out of a river.
It wasn't a wet cat.
Otter
Mink
The one time once been close to an otter, it was blooming obvious even though it was a young one.
I've seen Mink four times, they are much more a nippy stoat like thing - one seemed to be eying up LD of the forum and I as we canoed by it. Aggressive little buggers. Kill them dead.
The Yorkshire Calder used to have a large population of mink, they are as bold as brass, once had one about 5 foot away whilst fishing at Luddenden Foot the cheeky little blighter looked like it was going to have a go ! did the right thing and walked away.They also tried to colonise the Irwell in Manchester.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/wild-mink-runs-amok-in-city-927735
I've seen loads of mink on different watercourses and have seen otters on the River Nene at Yarwell and downstream of Barnwell and have also seen otters on the River Welland in Stamford and Market Harborough. A few years ago a family of otters was in the middle of Market Harborough outside Sainsburys going on about their business and ignoring the people watching them.
I had a curry the other night. Chicken Tarka. Its like a Chicken Tikka, but a little 'otter.
I'll get my coat and let myself out, thanks.
Thanks all. It was a mink.
Immigrant scum. I bet the trike was his.
Immigrant scum.
Racist!
But It's one of the reasons, along with habitat loss & pollution, that we have very few Water Voles, along with habitat loss & pollution.
Kill the little bastards, plenty more left where they came from.
Kill the little bastards, plenty more left where they came from.
I couldn't, he made off on a small pink trike.
Animal rights loons 'liberated' loads of mink in the New Forest (as well as other locations).
An utter disaster for nature, and for the mink.
are you sure it wasn't a beaver?
Sounds like a mink. I saw an otter just before Christmas when walking the dog, it was huge! It climbed out of the water and its body just kept coming - I was shocked how big it was (I though they were the same size as stoats! 🤦)
It certainly wasn't a weasel, they're stoataly different.
I dont know what you saw ..
I've lived out in the countryside for most of my life and although I had seen a sea otter before ( Mallaig ) the only time I had seen another otter in the "wild" was at a "country park" on the Derwent Walk last summer..two miles from the Metrocentre in a man made "lake" near the river Derwent ..there were lots of people around and I wouldn't have noticed them at all ( family of 3) if an elderly gentleman hadnt stopped us from riding on to point them out .
Being so " urban " it was the last place I would have expected my first encounter with these creatures ..given that I live within a few hundred yards of the North Tyne in deepest darkest Northumberland ..
I've spent a decent amount of time around prime otter territory, but thus far, the only otter I've seen was swimming down the litter-choked White Cart Water in the middle of Paisley. Haven't seen it since; consensus was that it was on its way home from a night out.
It certainly wasn’t a weasel, they’re stoataly different.
Ni they're not. They're weasily recognisable, it's stoats that are stoataly different.
Ok, this is getting otterly stupid now, less of the play on words please.
I got this chap from the big car park on Loch Linnhe..
& this one which crossed the road then went for a swim in the Tweed just upstream from Berwick..
My nephew left a dead otter in the downstairs loo yesterday.
Kill the little bastards, plenty more left where they came from.
Nowhere near as many as there were, the reintroduction and increase in numbers of otters has led to a dramatic decline in mink numbers, otters won’t tolerate mink in their territories.
This has led to a small but significant rise in water vole numbers in some areas where the local environment has been modified to suit voles.
There are moves being made to reintroduce pine marten into Wales and England because they have been shown to dramatically reduce grey squirrel numbers allowing red squirrels to recolonise suitable woodland.
It seems that the bigger greys have no inbuilt defence against pine martens, the greys spend more time on the ground, and being heavier, can’t escape onto thinner branches.
Just goes to show that given a wee bit of help, nature is pretty good at sorting out damage caused by ignorant interfering humans.
My nephew left a dead otter in the downstairs loo yesterday.
Mersey Trout, shirley?
I saw an otter swim right though the centre of Reading once!
Central Reading? Probably the same genus as Jonny Robertson's
Animal rights loons ‘liberated’ loads of mink in the New Forest (as well as other locations).
I think you'll find that one was down to the Met Police;)
That part of wales and that description almost 100% mink. Lots of them in that area.
We live on the River Otter and Otters and Beavers not uncommon. I’ve seen each a couple of times in the last year. We did have mink here, your description sounds mink probable but I’m not aware of any here for a good few years. Good pics above Matt!
I saw my first white stoat last week ..their fur changes colour in winter .
It couldn't have stood out more if it tried !
Does it know something that we don't though ?
Which part of the Taff Trail were you on? There have been a lot of otter sightings around the pontypridd area recently.
I live on the edge of farmland with a brook running under the house. Was shaving a few months ago, looked out of the window and there was a large otter loping across the field towards me, looking for a way into the brook. Quite a surprise. I've also seen otters in the Ribble near Settle.
I was convinced I saw a mink on the river lea a few years ago - having looked at the pictures and relative sizes perhaps it was an otter after all
I once saw a mink chase a baby rabbit into bushes, there was a horrible screaming sound and a minute later the mink came out again, apparently they kill for enjoyment. Maybe they'd do better in the SAS.
Did it eat any explosive material?
I only ask because it's not every day you get an otter you can't defuse
The Yorkshire Calder used to have a large population of mink
Some still there - saw one where the Calder and Hebden Water meet a few years back.
My FIL claimed he saw an otter in teh nearby stream here in Milton Keynes, I thought he was talking bobbins as we live quite close to the centre
turns out he wasnt
& apparently they are comin here & killing our swans!
& apparently they are comin here & killing our swans!
I think the relevant part of that report is that the man who claims he saw the otters bumping off the swan is a 'keen fisherman'.
I was by stony stratford lakes (in MK)last month, and asked a fisherman if he ever saw otter, he said he had seen them, and that they kill all the fish, but dont eat them.
I dont believe that, it was probably mink and cormorants.
but I'm glad to hear that they are around
I saw them in thetford town centre one night, they had been reintroduced nearby