When we headed to the River Lossie, alongside Elgin, I had not expected to photograph an otter in the environment I did. I have been lucky enough to see otters in the wild on a number of occasions. Most of my views have been when I have been in Shetland or on my trail cameras at Yew View, alongside the Severn.
We walked all along the Lossie, close to Elgin. Otters are often seen along this stretch of river, despite its close proximity to shops and houses. The otters have become accustomed to people, which makes it a great place to possibly see and photograph them.
It is a lovely stretch of river and I couldn’t help but hope for a view of an otter within the beautiful reflections of the beech trees…
We looped around and headed back towards the car park, with no views of otter. Our last chance was the pond in Cooper Park… just a short dash over the grass from the river. They have been seen a number of times fishing in this pond. As we neared the pond, a couple coming the other way, cameras in hand, told us the otter was there!
This pond is surrounded by paths, dog walkers, close to a large and busy carpark and there, amazingly, was the otter! Diving regularly in the shallow water, this otter was eating a lot, but I am not sure what it was eating from the bottom of the pond.
The sun was very low in the sky by now and was also in front of us, making photography a bit of a challenge.
What I found particularly incredible, apart from the location of this otter, were all the people walking past who were totally oblivious of this very special visitor! What a treat!