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Writer's pictureWildlifeKate

Otters on rising waters with Stoat, polecat & badger action!

I posted last week about the rising water levels at Yew View this week. When I arrived, I was astounded at the levels as, in just a few days, the river had risen over 3m, flooding into the garden… in fact, half way up the garden!


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Thank goodness, the floating otter platform had done its job, despite the tethering rope being bitten, it survived the flood. This otter cam will now be repositioned in the garden on bird feeders, until later next Spring when the river calms down.

What was interesting to watch, was how the river level rose over a 12 hour period. As I looked back through the footage, I was delighted to see we had captured a clip of the otter visiting his usual sprainting spot, which had disappeared under the rising water!


This is a selection of clips, showing the rising water and the visiting wildlife. It starts late afternoon on the 20th Nov and shows how much the river rose over night, into early morning….


Also last week, David rang me whilst I was out on site, to tell me there was a stoat up under the stone steps by the back door. It seemed to be going under the steps and popping up either side. I didn’t think there was much of a chance of capturing on the Bushnell, but I thought it was worth a try. I set the cam up, facing the steps and left it for a week. When I checked through the footage, I must admit, I was amazed that I had managed to capture 2 short clips of our stoat a couple of days after it had first been seen! You have to watch carefully…. these little mustelids don’t hang around for long!


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We also captured a nice clip of the fox sitting outside the back door!


This stoat  (and the otter!) wasn’t the only mustelid making an appearance! The polecat appeared at the two badger sett entrances (not the one where I had set another Bushnell!)


I was hoping to capture the polecat on the Bushnell, but sadly it did not appear at the entrance I had chosen. We did capture badger and fox on this Bushnell though…


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… and  rather tatty-eared rabbit!


Our foxes are pretty active, appearing regularly around the badger setts and at the feeding station…



I really hope they decide to visit our sett again. I think this chamber is a little big for them… may be I should think about a new project for 2017….a smaller chamber just for them!

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