BBC Wildlife - UK (2021-12)

discoverwildlife.com BBC WILDLIFE 71

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anna Levin is an author and journalist.
Ripples on the River: Celebrating
the Return of the Otter
(Bloomsbury, £18) by Anna
and photographer Laurie
Campbell is out now. To find
out more about her work, visit
annalevinwriting.co.uk.

The tracks and signs of their presence were

causing ripples of excitement all along

Britain’s waterways.

M

ost people of my

generation grew up

without having otters

around. The Eurasian otter,

Lutra lutra, is native to

the UK and was once an integral part of the

landscape at the water’s edge, whether it be a

lake, a wetland, a river or the sea. But by the

end of the 1970s, this indigenous predator

had all but disappeared. Otter numbers

had suffered a catastrophic crash in Britain

and much of Western Europe. Remnant

populations were restricted to wilder areas,

such as Scotland’s Atlantic coastline and the

lakes and wetlands of Eastern Europe.

Many factors contributed to the otter’s

decline, including an increase in road

deaths, entanglement in fishing gear, loss

of habitat and pollution. The main culprit

however, was the accumulation in the

environment of toxic chemicals that had

been introduced in the 1950s. These included

the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) used

in the electronics industry, the pesticide

dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT),

and aldrin and dieldrin that were widely

used for sheep dips and seed dressings.

Many birds and animals were poisoned and

Around the turn of the millenium,

otters were appearing in places they

hadn’t been seen for decades

The semi-aquatic otter

will hunt along riverbanks

for fish, which make up

80 per cent of its diet

For otters seemed remote, almost mythical
creatures, belonging to another, wilder realm.
Seeing one during the mundane routine of
the daily commute into Glasgow seemed
implausible, like a golden eagle soaring over
the school run.
Such surprise and delight were shared by
many around the turn of the millennium, as
otters were appearing in places they hadn’t
been seen for decades. Though still mostly
nocturnal and elusive by nature, glimpses
of the animals were being caught – a flick
of a tapered tail midstream, a trail of silver
bubbles on the edge of the water, five-toed
footprints in the soft mud on riverbanks.