Frosty!

Two days in a row of -5C and freezing fog today which hopefully will clear. 

Checked out the otter prints and as expected the water levels had gone showing a number of tracks and where the otter had gone back into the water.

Otter prints 2016

It was great to see our local otter is still around this morning.  I checked the area where I have previously found prints and under about an inch of water the prints were clearly the right size and type with 5 distinct toes and claws.

The morning was cold.  The first hoar frost of the winter with minus 5 Celsius.  Cool! A beautiful walk and views of Naunton Court. The stone mullion bay is Elizabethan and the building Grade 2 listed.

Otters! Proof on camera and video - April 2014

We were delighted to see otter prints alongside Piddle Brook when the flood waters receded in Spring.  We knew there had been several sightings up the Piddle towards Grafton Flyford and at properties alongside the brook there had been evidence of their presence but we didn't have photographs.

Now we do...and video!  

We've logged the sightings with Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and they were as delighted to see the pictures as we were.

Otters (lutra lutra) are a protected species.

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/regulation/wildlife/species/otters.aspx

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/490/contents/made

There are some fact sheets on the web links.

The important aspect for the local community is to ensure that developments do not harm the otters. Our big concern is pollution of Piddle Brook. Now that otters have returned it would be tragic if contamination from the proposed Chicken Broiler Units at Upton Snodsbury had an impact on the quality of the water and the habitat in which the otters survive. They are a long way up the food chain and any impacts further down will affect the quantity of fish.