Rutland water captures Otters in freezing conditions

The moment three otters were seen on Rutland’s icy reservoir was captured by a photographer.

Richard Adams, 79 years old, saw the rare animals for the first-time at Smew Hide in Rutland Nature Reserve on Tuesday.

Although they were only visible for a brief moment, it was still “quite impressive”.

According to Leicestershire Wildlife Trust and Rutland Wildlife Trust, otters are usually shy around humans, but the cold conditions made it easier for them to be spotted.

‘Quite memorable’

On the same day, the trust also had two additional reports of otters being seen in different parts of the nature preserve.

It was believed to have six distinct otters.

Adams claimed he knew there was an otter colony at the nature reserve, but despite being a regular visitor, had never seen them.

He stated that he went out to photograph sunrise, but it was too foggy.

At around 08:30 GMT, he stopped by the nature reserve while on his way to home.

He stated that he had seen one hide and thought, “I’ll just check in case.”

“I looked in the window and saw it was all icy. There were no birds, then these three otters suddenly appeared.

“They were only there a few seconds, then they disappeared back into reeds.

“It was quite spectacular, quite memorable.

“To see three is all that really matters to me.

“One, I would consider myself fortunate, two, very fortunate, but three, it is mind-blowing.”

Rutland Water has been home to Otters for many years. The trust describes them as “elusive” and says they have lived there for many years.

Joe Davis, Rutland water nature reserve manager, said that otters have a history of being hunted for many generations and are therefore afraid of people.

But he stated that sightings of the elusive creature are not uncommon.

“People often see them here on the nature preserve.

He said, “We have lots of bird hides so that the otters don’t see us so easily.”

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