The otter in the River Frome near Ham Mill, Thrupp

Edit:
I have changed my original image to this one, which Helena prefers! I will post a series of these otter pictures onto a Flickr gallery today, including the original one I posted.


John D. gave me another demonstration of how he mounts his photographic prints for his joint exhibition next week at the Subscription Rooms. I am planning how to present my own images and weighing up the options, so John's expertise has been very useful.

Before going home to have some lunch I decided to go further down the hill to the canal which runs up the Golden Valley. I had heard that kingfishers have been commonly spotted on the newly regenerated canal  sections above Bowbridge so thought I'd take a look. I normally visit Capel's Mill which is a little downstream but the overhanging tree cover makes illumination the birds very difficult.

I parked about half a mile up the valley close to one of the newly replaced locks at the end of Ham Mill Lane, just before it reverts to being a footpath  which then crosses the railway. I walked downstream on the canal and talked to a few people who were using the footpath and gazed around hoping to see a kingfisher flying close to the water. I am very philosophical in these situations and generally whenever I want to see one I never do. Then when I least expect it they appear numerous.

I returned to where I had parked the car by the lock and there I met a woman walking downstream. Seeing my camera she said it was a shame I wasn't there a couple of days ago as she had seen two otters playing in the canal just yards from where we were standing. I was pleased to hear this news as I knew they have been seen on occasions but here was a first hand account.

She said she was having her lunch break and needed the exercise so she carried on down the towpath. I went in the opposite direction and a few yards further upstream I noticed a narrow gap in the hedgerow of nettles and brambles which i knew would lead down to the adjacent river. The canal was built beside the river back in the 1820s as there was little space at the bottom of the valley for all the means of transport.

It only was about twenty yards down a steep bank through the vegetation to the river bank under tall trees. The river was beginning to meander at this point and it was hard to see through the undergrowth to the r]water. I spotted a heron standing in the quite shallow water but on my approach it flew away up high into the treetops. I walked around the corner to see what lay ahead. On the far side of the river was a shaded garden close to the old buildings of. Ham Mill, which originally had its own water course supplying its mill wheel.

I stood watching and waiting for a kingfisher, but instead i saw a dark shape in the river moving downstream. Within a second I knew it was an otter, having seen them on the Loch Etive in Argyll, Scotland from the bedroom of Helena's family house by the beach. |Ever since then they have been a delight to m y mind and I've had a constant urge to see them again. Now they are within a mile of our home here in Gloucestershire.

The otter swam slowly towards me, diving and twisting. I couldn't hide so just tried to grab some pictures as quickly as I could, not knowing what would happen next. In fact as it passed down below the bank i was standing on it turned towards me and stopped midstream and stood on its forelegs to look at me. I took this photo as it first turned towards me. For what seemed like a minute we stood watching each other and then it slowly turned away and swam gently downstream again. It didn't seemed frightened of me and I felt honoured to have had a short moment where we checked each other out.  

I went back to the canal and from the towpath I looked back down over a fence  thirty yards further downstream and then saw it again examining something in the bank. It carried on swimming and I followed from the vantage point of the towpath and saw it again another thirty yards away. I took pictures from each site and have a small collection of different viewpoints so I feel delighted. I think I may go back again before too long. It was such a privilege.