Otter at Blandford Forum

The local grapevine was buzzing with news of Otters performing near the weir at Blandford Forum so a family visit seemed in order today. After a couple of hours we had seen no otters but we did see Kingfisher, Grey Wagtail and a bunch of other Dorset birders with cameras, prams, kids and dogs doing the same as us. Eventually we walked back to the stone bridge upstream of the weir. At this point Claire and I both saw a long ripple in the water, some ducks flushing, and then - this was the clincher - a couple of photographers running back to the weir in anticipation of the Otter's arrival. We went back to the weir and watched it at point blank range with a small crowd of admirers for over half an hour. The Otter was diving at the base of the weir (hence the bubbles in these pictures), bobbing up, chewing a bit, looking around and then repeating the sequence.