Shetland Otter family using bathing pool: Bushnel trphy cam footage

(please note, plays better as seen here, not full screen. Blogger appears to compress quality quite a bit)
Fresh water plays a crucial role in coastal living otters survival as it is imperative the salt water is cleaned from their fur. This mother and two cubs are visiting this small freshwater pool on most days as is a dog otter. These cameras are fantastic way to be collecting data and monitoring sites which is extremely useful when working on several projects at various different sites. Particularly if I have an image in mind or behaviour I would like to photograph, I gather footage over a period of usually two to three weeks to confirm whether or not they are doing what I think they are doing and if the shot I am after is doable. Some fresh water pools for example I have set up cameras on pools that are clearly active, only to see its used only at night- the camera records the data which in turn saves time.

Often you can see where otter activity is very obvious and an area is being used frequently but the camera footage gathers the data while you are busy on other things. I also use them to monitor sites which I can not visit as frequently as I would like. Using so many sites and working on so many families using such kit plays an integral role in being able to keep up to date with many, many sites which is key to be able to offer guests on my tours and photo assignments. Apart from that all though they are also just great fun!

I use three trophy cam's- but two of them recently packed in so am shipping them back!

Two Shetland Otter families interact at 'lay up'- Bushnel trophy cam footage

(note blogger seems compress quite a bit so best viewed as is instead of full screen)

This headland 'lay-up' was being used by several otters throughout most of the summer, including two families; a mum with a single cub and a mum with two. This footage shows the two families kind of surprising one and other as they all arrive to use the lay-up more or less at the same time. When more than one resident female share a stretch of shoreline they generally tend to be related and well acquainted with one another and when they meet, which they will invariably do, their interactions are quite sociable, often even affectionate but usually brief. It is often the case that in such situations that there might well be two or even more generations along a stretch of shoreline.

In this clip its not just the interaction between the two families that's interesting but you can also really hear their calls, mainly the cubs contact call but also various frustrated 'whickers' and 'whines', beautiful noises.

This footage was actually shown on BBC's Countryfile when I had them out doing a bit on otters in Shetland in the summer.

Bushnel trophy cam footage- dog otter at lay up in Summer

A dog otter at a 'lay up' above along one of Shetlands inner shorelines. This lay up is used on a daily basis throughout the year and on many days by more multiple individuals. At the time I had the Bushnel set here there was two different dogs visiting it.
These 'lay ups' play quite an important part in an otters range and you will find many different examples from sea swept turf headlands, rocky and vegetated out crops, sphagnum moss on peat moor and so on. They will often spend many minutes here grooming, scent marking and often dozing off. Quite often you will see them do this after foraging, coming up on high tide before they return to a holt for example.

A January afternoon with mother and cubs

As many will know we are experiencing the worst winter here in Shetland for many, many years as is many parts of Britain. Not surprisingly this is the hardest time of the year on wildlife and Otters are no exception to this and are in many ways even more vulnerable to the wrath of winter than many other creatures, as storms unleash their fury on the Shetland shorelines. In spite of the persistent gales over the last few weeks however life simply must go on for otters.

Over the past few weeks I have been busy working on various projects and assignments on Otters here in Shetland and have also been enjoying some good encounters with guests on my Otter tours. Most recently last week were guests from Germany on a bespoke photo itinerary with me. At the weekend I am looking forward to guests arriving all the way from Arizona, USA!  

Here is a sequence from last week of a mother and her two cubs on one of the few days recently with winds bellow gale force!



A Shetland otter family in late Novemeber

Had a very busy and enjoyable week working on three different Otter families last week. Each of these three are mother and two cubs. The sites are very busy during this time of year as most locations are very active with mothers and cubs who all most forage during the day and as the nights draw in, this means they must work all the harder. At the moment I am mixing my time in the field around eight different Otter families and have another half a dozen sites to visit over the next week or two. Here is a sequence of one of these families from last week. The sequence shows a typical behaviour in their daily routines of foraging, playing and grooming at a lye up on the grass before they rest.



 

Here's a selection of images all taken this week. A very , very challenging week of westerly gales and often driving rain but some fantastic otter activity, behaviour and encounters. We saw a total of 18 over the five day Otter photography one to one itinerary.

 

For more information on my Otter Photography one to one itineraries http://www.shetlandnature.net/otters/otter-photography/

 

Life is busy and it only seems to get more so- work and of course family commitments leave little room for anything else- but this I would not change- life is very good indeed! One thing however that never changes is my time with Otters here in Shetland. In fact this is what the majority of my day to day working life revolves around and so I am immensely fortunate to spend such special time studying otters.

What has changed is my 'at the desk' time, hence the lack of postings on my Otter blog. I think I said it in a previous post that now with the ever changing social media world, most of, if not all my postings are on Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/shetlandnature and even with that I am not the most frequent 'poster', there is just no time....

Any how, in a bid to freshen up and revive me'old Otter blog I thought Id post an image or two from some of the last few months, starting with yesterdays encounter, a mother and her two young cubs in gorgeous golden autumn evening light......