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Otter photos...

3.9K views 29 replies 8 participants last post by  Cap'n Fishy  
#1 ·
Following my report on the latest addition to Edinburgh's urban otter population....

Urban otter

... I have been through the 900 frames I brought home and whittled them down to 50. So, you may as well have the other 49... ?

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To be continued...
 
#5 ·
It's not difficult to see why otters were to blame some of the "Nessie " sightings ...?
Aye, I spotted that one a couple of years ago when we were out on Lochy with Mark, and a family of otters were out on the water. Dead easy to see how you can make a Nessie out of one, or even two of them, one behind the other, if you just mess with the perspective...

What I noticed was that for all the frolicking and stickleback hunting she was doing most of the time, every so often she would enter a kind of trance-like state, and just cruise along, quite stiff, as shown in the second last shot. I'm sure that has accounted for a few Nessie sightings over the years...

Col
 
#8 ·
You see all the open-mouthed shots? That is it chewing on what it has got hold of when it was diving. It was a constant process... dive, surface, chew, chew, chew, dive, surface, chew, chew, chew...

My mate has photos of it with a stickleback. My deductions (which could be wrong)...

The loch used to have some very big perch and a population of pike. However, it has suffered from eutrophication from all the goose poop and that of other waterfowl, and it might be that all that is left is sticklebacks (which seem to be pretty hardy things).

When they first moved in (there are at least 2 and one report of 3 otters on the loch) the loch had lots of waterfowl on it. However, one was filmed making off into the bushes with a mallard in its mouth. When I was there on Tuesday, the loch was notable for the total absence of ducks and coots and moorhens. They've either been eaten or they have twigged it is not a safe place to be and they have flown off. All that was present was a heron and a pair of Canada geese (which would probably hold their own against an otter).

So, sticklebacks for breakfast, lunch and dinner it seems. And that probably explains why they are putting on such a good show - they have to keep hunting for long periods to get enough of the wee feckers. The spikey wee things can't be very palatable - hence all the chewing required before swallowing.

Old adage - face like a bulldog chewing a wasp. New adage - face like an otter chewing a stickleback. ?

Col
 
#9 ·
A little worrying, Joe public will be turning up with tins of Tuna, fish from Tescos etc, next see a car, rush over to see what's on offer.

Some stags in the Highlands, have had to be destroyed as they became too demanding and with a head of antlers, could easily take someone'e eye out as my mother would say.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Cheers, Hutch.

I was using a 100-400 mm f4.5-5.6 image-stabilised lens, fitted with a x1.4 extender, to give a 560 mm lens @ f8, wide open. I had the camera on a monopod for additional stability. I was shooting in 'Shutter Priority'. Shutter speeds were mostly 1/250 or 1/500 sec. Auto-ISO was used to give correct exposure, although I was having to keep switching it up and down with +1 or +2 EV at times and - 1 EV at other times to keep the otter correct and ignore the background. That's how the background varies from very dark to blown-out white. The sun was creeping round from the south end and if the otter was south of me, I was shooting 'contre jour'. However, if the otter moved to the north side of me, it was then in shade from the cliff on the other side from us, and I was in addition shooting with the light and in danger of overexposing the otter. So, I spent the whole time moving the EV compensation up and down.

Here's the settings of the 50 frames I kept...




Col
 
#16 ·
... not been to the loch for them, just giving them a bit peace
It's commendable of you Andy, but word it well and truly out - it was from the first piece to appear on YouTube. Joe Public is there every day to see them. By and large, they don't seem bothered with all the attention - just go about the business of finding food, with all these strange multicoloured creatures standing in the background.... one heron, 2 Canada geese, 3 photographers, 4 joggers, 5 dog-walkers, 6 cyclists, and a dozen walkers with phone-cams...

But it will be interesting to hear how they get on over the coming months. They might just run out of food and be forced to move on?

Col
 
#17 ·
Yeh I know a few that has been to photograph them and have said the same, no doubt they will move back to Dudingston if food gets a bit scarce, though probably doing that at the moment, there are other ones on the W,O,L in the town also that I know off also, but not getting the same attention as these ones are.
 
#18 ·
Aye, the WoL ones are trickier to spot for the casual punter. Can't just go to a spot and be guaranteed to see them, whereas if you go to Dunsapie, you get a show most days. Even the ones at the Figgate Pond have loads more cover. There's really no cover at Dunsapie, so if you have to spend the time hunting, you are in plain sight. What do you think it is chewing? I was assuming it was sticklebacks, but now I'm thinking it might be pond snails?

Col
 
#21 ·
Here's my mate's photo with the stickleback. You can also see it is a different otter to the one I was photographing. It doesn't have the pigmentation patches on its nose.

 
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#22 ·
Quality pictures of these gallus animals.

A few years ago I was fishing a stream which in most parts was no more than 20 feet wide. I was joined by two young otters moving up and down the run and splashing about, literally by my feet.

Heard a high pitched call and they both immediately headed up the bank and were gone. Got a few pictures at the time but not too clear.
 
#25 ·
Yeh - just been watching that. Very interesting one was filmed with what was clearly a fish and clearly bigger than a stickleback. Didn't look like a perch or pike. Wonder if someone put roach in Dunsapie? It's certainly roach that attracted the otters to the Figgate Pond in Portobello.

Col
 
#30 ·
I've been told I should be able to see him from my bathroom window. However, I reckon I would need a telescope capable of getting a good look at the Galilean moons of Jupiter to get much of a view of it. ?
 
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