I will be adding to this page on a regular basis depending on what I see and photograph in and around the gardens. To begin, I will describe one of many encounters I had with my favourite animal, the otter, last winter. Winter is a particularly good time to see otters as long as the loch remains fairly calm. The otter was on a very exposed rock, eating a fish when I first spotted it. I carefully approached to within about 25m and although it was aware of my presence, it was unconcerned. It finished eating, marked its territory then entered the water and surfaced very close to me with only part of its face showing. After watching me for about a minute, it gently slid under the water and reappeared about 50m away where it continued fishing as though I was not there. What was so impressive was that the water was shallow yet the otter moved without causing a ripple on the calm surface (when they are feeding, their progress under water is usually evident). If an otter doesn`t wish to be seen, it won`t be.
This is the otter from above.
See also
Photos and text by Ian Lamb.