Halcyon river diaries

[slime monster]

Did anyone else watch this delightful episode on BBC1 yesterday 6.30 pm, I was transfixed by it especially the footage of Mink and Otters , if you missed it do try to get it on catch up tv it is a real rare treat.

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

Yes it was excellent ...I liked the kingfishers part -- and catching fish for the 'aquarium'

 

[slime monster]

and catching fish for the 'aquarium'

ha ha ha ha ha when the lad threw the only fish away ..priceless

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

ha ha ha ha ha when the lad threw the only fish away ..priceless

That was brilliant ---and just so natural ..you could see it coming couldn't you ?

 

[slime monster]

Yes and it could have been me as a child sulking on the bridge after he did it .

 

[Neil Maidment]

I thought it was ironic that when filming the Otters attacking and taking the Mallard ducklings (6 or 7 "went missing"), the narration commented that the lake/pond didn't have any fish in it - suprise, suprise... wonder why the pretty little Otter was hunting and eating the ducklings??

2+2 = 5
:wh

 

[honslow]

Nasty little b8stards those otters. I liked the way the commentator chap speculated that the mother and her remaining few chicks must have 'moved on'. No, the otter obviously scoffed the lot!!! Give it another decade....

 

[Wobbly Face (As Per Ed)]

Also disturbing was the footage of the Mink taking the Kingfisher. Could Otters do the same?
The only time I have seen an Otter was when bird watching at Leighton Moss reserve. Mink, I have seen plenty of and watch one swim of with a duckling. Mink are associated with taking all sorts, could Otters be the same? I think Otters are more nocturnal, so their antics not seen so much.

 

[Neil Maidment]

40 to 50 years ago just one family of Otters were thought to be resident on the whole of Throop and perhaps that also included the lower tidal and upstream Parley areas as well. Bearing in mind I almost lived on the water for many years, I only ever recall two sightings. I've now seen Otters on all three beats of Throop eight times in the last three years. Considered opinion says there are now several families resident within the same area that supported just one. It is quite common to find their tracks and the obvious signs of their meals.

Do they attack and eat birds?

Just try counting the river birdlife. Where they were once numerous, they are now few and far between. You can count the Coots on one hand (if at all), there are still a few Moorhens and the occassional Water Rail (but haven't seen one in the last two years). The little Egrets (white) are still there and have been since I was in short trousers. How can generations of brilliant white birds survive when others all around seem to be disappearing?

Oh! and the other great survivors of the birdworld are those dirty great black things that sit on the pylons laughing at me as I try and catch chub!

 

[the indifferent crucian]

I've been watching those dirty great black things take ducklings the last month or so. They too, were once considered vermin and shot. I've also seen them fighting off herons to take other 'food' I couldn't identify..it might have been abandoned bait, .... it might have been more ducklings.


Mink...I hate 'em. They have taken all the wild carp from our only village pond we were allowed to fish. Generations of villagers cut their angling teeth on those little wildies


Mink are everywhere here in SW Surrey, .... I have even seen them as much as 4 miles from water.



Rather worryingly otters have been seen too and it seems they are on the Wey as well.

 

[The bad one]

That nice Mr Clegg wants a bonfire of outdated laws to burn
I suggest you put forward that the Wildlife and Countryside Act and the EU directive on Habitats and Protected Species are put forward for burning.

There again you might find that the hole in bum will heal up before that happens

 

[jimmy crackedcorn]

I'm to assume TBO, that you dont want any habitat or species protected then ?

How strange !

 

[The bad one]

No Jimmy, I quite happy with the all the regs, they might even need strengthening, but there are others on this site that may wish to see those regs removed for creatures that crawl and eat fish Hence my word 'you' in my last post.

 

[Harvey]

..........

 

[David Rogers 3]

And the solution? Migration. Leave, before it's to late.

Isn't that the point of all the billions spent on research into space travel ? Foul up the planet, then up and away to the next one? ;-)

 

[honslow]

Good to see old Auntie on the ball... It's illegal to catch and remove bullheads, they're an endangered species! Just like old tarka. Wonder how many complaints the Beeb has received from viewers about the family breaking fish conservation laws?

Otter populations have now hit saturation point in some parts of the country. In the West Country territorial otters are killing the rehabilitated animals the RSPB has been releasing. Local veterinarian Vic Simpson told me this week that at least 60 per cent of the road kill otters he now receives for post mortems have other otters' bite wounds on them.

This little conservation experiment is turning sour already, and that's before you consider the effects this apex predator is having on the biodiveristy below it in the food chain. Should have fixed the base of the pyramid first, as I've been arguing all along!!!!!

Then again improving invertebrates isn't very visible and probably wouldn't get the politicians and civil servants any of the kind of good PR they're always looking for.....

 

[slime monster]

Oh dear what have I started, Lets not have another "Otter war" here please ,I assumed most anglers were interested in British wildlife especially on the river bank. some of you seem only able to focus on the negative side of what was a very good little snapshot of river life . and if a father can't take his lad out and catch a tiddler or two ....well!!

 

[honslow]

If it's okay for dad and lad to kill endangered species in the name of education but not okay for people to manage otters to protect their livelihood then there's something seriously wrong with the world....

 

[coelacanth]

territorial otters are killing the rehabilitated animals the RSPB has been releasing.

RSPB?

Local veterinarian Vic Simpson told me this week that at least 60 per cent of the road kill otters he now receives for post mortems have other otters' bite wounds on them.

This Vic Simpson?

Vic Simpson, a Truro-based veterinary pathologist and a recognised authority on otters, said suggestions that otters should be moved was "nonsense".

"First of all you have got to catch them," Mr Simpson said. "If you use snares, the injuries that otters would suffer are absolutely horrendous. If you use cages, then otters will break their teeth trying to escape.

"First of all it is not practical, then there is the question of being granted a licence to trap them and that isn't going to happen."

Mr Simpson said the debate was often influenced by commercial fishing businesses who had lost valuable stocks to otters. He said: "Fisheries will go and spend tens of thousands of pounds on stocking their lakes and yet are too mean to install electric fences, which are effective in stopping otters."

 

[Wombat]

incredibly good programme that also really demonstrated how the survival rate was with the young and how another species could take its life as a predator. My heart went out to the dipper that tried to blend in so well by staying motionless but then got eaten by the sparrow hawk.

It also showed how difficult it was for children to want to watch wildlife but the boredom factor came in and they wanted to play and have fun rather than being quiet as their father wanted. You could see what both mum and dad wanted to achieve but getting the fine balance was so hard to achieve.