Otters

Would anyone be interested in a thread to record otter sightings in the sea or in rivers for that matter through the year ahead? I saw one on Sunday, think it could be interesting?

we have spotted quite a few last year,there definately on the increase,looks good for the future

Seen one last year at a mark i fish alot in Co, Sligo, class looking creature , hopefully he/she will be there agin this year

i seen one for years on one mark that i fish.but have yet to see him this year and he gets himself some fine flats to

Seen a few locally over the past year... They must be on the spread...

What I'm thinking is just a simple record of a sighting like time, date, location and county. Other relevent info could be added eg if there was more than one, if they appeared to be adult or juvenile, if they were fishing/eating a catch, stuff like that.

It would even be worthwhile reporting dead ones on the road.

Its purely just curiosity and cos it'd be interesting to see how many places anglers are meeting them. Its not cos I think they are rare, they are anything but.

I see them often enough around home here, but I was well impressed last summer on the river Suir near Golden, Tipperary, I saw 2 that day and video'd one eating a crayfish.
But I always find it more interesting seeing them in the sea for some reason.

Thanks for the feedback so quick. I'll start a new thread in this forum and if it needs to be moved elsewhere I'm sure someone will let me know and sort it out?????????

ya its good to think of the marine wildlife too.i seen 1 last sunday.he was only a baby

havn't seen many otters but do meet a few seals from time to time along the Clare coast.
Had one try to take a lure once,would have been painful for both of us...but instead he popped his head up ten yards from me and swam off,
another fella tried taking mackeral off the hook..and another i met he seemed stranded on a pebble beach big swollen case of pink eye went back the next day and he was gone luckily,didnt seem like the Seal Santuary could do much about it

good idea this,maybe you should start a tread for all types of wildlife,it would be interesting to see what other types of wildlife is out there,on my fishing trips so far I have seen seals,dolphins,a whale,osprey,Otters and loads of different birds as well

http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/biodi ... it-record/

http://blx1.bto.org/btologin/main/bos-page.jsp

http://www.biology.ie/home.php?m=biodiversity

you can submit one off records to many of these sites!!!

i think this is a good idea - i try to remember to report anything interesting i see while im out fishing

as regards the otters be sure its an otter - plenty of mink knocking round at many fishing marks

http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/biodiversity-data/submit-record/

http://blx1.bto.org/btologin/main/bos-page.jsp

http://www.biology.ie/home.php?m=biodiversity

you can submit one off records to many of these sites!!!

i think this is a good idea - i try to remember to report anything interesting i see while im out fishing

as regards the otters be sure its an otter - plenty of mink knocking round at many fishing marks

Cheers corbyeire, good point too re the mink, didnt think of that as we dont have that problem here yet, no mink in this area yet, but theyll get here, the grey squirrel is starting to stick its nose in just this last couple of years. Its a terrible shame but its inevitable. The mink will be harder to stomach than the grey.

cATHAL.

http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/biodiversity-data/submit-record/

http://blx1.bto.org/btologin/main/bos-page.jsp

http://www.biology.ie/home.php?m=biodiversity

you can submit one off records to many of these sites!!!

i think this is a good idea - i try to remember to report anything interesting i see while im out fishing

as regards the otters be sure its an otter - plenty of mink knocking round at many fishing marks

Yes Frank, I probably shouldnt post things on my lunch break, the rush I am in might appear to be blunt. Sorry, Thanks for the feedback and responses everyone. I think it would be useful and of interest to a lot of sea anglers to know the distribution and abundance of otters in this country. As far as I can gather Ireland didnt ever suffer the otter decline that happened in England but due to English media and nature programmes reporting the rarity of otters in England even a lot of the Irish public have it in their heads that otters are extremely rare and are surprised, even astounded when someone reports having seen one. I was told just over ten years ago by the then NI wildlife officer that areas of England were being repopulated with otters caught in the wild in Ireland in an attempt to reverse the decline there. I wonder is that still going on. I thought it was a great sign of the health of the Irish population to hear that it was so strong Ireland was as actually able to give otters away.

Frank I suppose the abundance of mink in some places might complicate such an otter sighting record as Ive suggested, especially if they are observed swimming at distance.
I know inland Mayo around Loughs Mask and Carra have an awful lot of mink, seen a fair few in that area.
But I'd say most people would be able to tell the difference the majority of the time and I'd love it if people reported sightings on the other thread Ive started called 'Irish Otter Sightings 2011'.

Thanks again,

Cathal.

havn't seen many otters but do meet a few seals from time to time along the Clare coast.
Had one try to take a lure once,would have been painful for both of us...but instead he popped his head up ten yards from me and swam off,
another fella tried taking mackeral off the hook..and another i met he seemed stranded on a pebble beach big swollen case of pink eye went back the next day and he was gone luckily,didnt seem like the Seal Santuary could do much about it

Stevie, hopefully that seal made a full recovery, what is pink eye? Youd need pretty stout line to keep a hold of one of those boys.

good idea this,maybe you should start a tread for all types of wildlife,it would be interesting to see what other types of wildlife is out there,on my fishing trips so far I have seen seals,dolphins,a whale,osprey,Otters and loads of different birds as well

Ger you are totally right, there are many interesting things out there to see and anglers get to see far more wildlife than most folk. This is a far better idea than mine. It would maybe show regional abundances of certain things. Yeah this would be far better. Might have to retitle that thread.
Where did you see the osprey? I think though I cant say for sure ,that I saw one in Glenveagh National Park in Donegal once, it was well up the hill side a good bit away but I couldnt ID it for sure. It was a bird of prey, good size and I could see white and brown, not buzzard and quite sure it wasnt a harrier?????? I was on the lake fishing .

good idea this,maybe you should start a tread for all types of wildlife,it would be interesting to see what other types of wildlife is out there,on my fishing trips so far I have seen seals,dolphins,a whale,osprey,Otters and loads of different birds as well

As you suggested, I asked Tanglerat if the thread could be retitled to include all wildlife and he has done so. Thanks everyone for the responses. See 'Irish wildlife observations 2011'.

Cathal.

[female harriers and immatures are white and brownquote="cathalger"]

good idea this,maybe you should start a tread for all types of wildlife,it would be interesting to see what other types of wildlife is out there,on my fishing trips so far I have seen seals,dolphins,a whale,osprey,Otters and loads of different birds as well

Ger you are totally right, there are many interesting things out there to see and anglers get to see far more wildlife than most folk. This is a far better idea than mine. It would maybe show regional abundances of certain things. Yeah this would be far better. Might have to retitle that thread.
Where did you see the osprey? I think though I cant say for sure ,that I saw one in Glenveagh National Park in Donegal once, it was well up the hill side a good bit away but I couldnt ID it for sure. It was a bird of prey, good size and I could see white and brown, not buzzard and quite sure it wasnt a harrier?????? I was on the lake fishing .[/quote]
at a distance ospreys look similar to gulls ,very similar flight pattern

[female harriers and immatures are white and brownquote="cathalger"]

good idea this,maybe you should start a tread for all types of wildlife,it would be interesting to see what other types of wildlife is out there,on my fishing trips so far I have seen seals,dolphins,a whale,osprey,Otters and loads of different birds as well

Ger you are totally right, there are many interesting things out there to see and anglers get to see far more wildlife than most folk. This is a far better idea than mine. It would maybe show regional abundances of certain things. Yeah this would be far better. Might have to retitle that thread.
Where did you see the osprey? I think though I cant say for sure ,that I saw one in Glenveagh National Park in Donegal once, it was well up the hill side a good bit away but I couldnt ID it for sure. It was a bird of prey, good size and I could see white and brown, not buzzard and quite sure it wasnt a harrier?????? I was on the lake fishing .

at a distance ospreys look similar to gulls ,very similar flight pattern[/quote] I saw the osprey up near tullycross in north connemara,I was like you I was a good distance away and wasn't really sure what it was at first I could see it was bigger then the gulls around and then it grabbed a fish from the water
I thought it was a sea eagle at first but I met a local one day and I asked him and he said he was climbing a hill he came within ten feet of a osprey
the report with the video is here viewtopic.php?f=3&t=28287&hilit=sea+eagle