OTTERS in Ireland

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

The European Otter found in Ireland grows to just over 1meter in length

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

lensman wrote:

you can add badgers to that.........

Absolutely right Lensman. I left out the daddy of them all. Cheers

Alun

lensman wrote:

you can add badgers to that.........

I guess the people at Badgerwatch Ireland (http://www.badgerwatch.ie/) and the IWT (http://www.iwt.ie/ext_docs/edu_resources/terrestrial/badger.pdf) are just wasting their time then ?

lensman

Alun wrote:

I guess the people at Badgerwatch Ireland (http://www.badgerwatch.ie/) and the IWT (http://www.iwt.ie/ext_docs/edu_resources/terrestrial/badger.pdf) are just wasting their time then ?

please explain

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Alun wrote:

I guess the people at Badgerwatch Ireland... are just wasting their time then ?

Not at all, it's just that my brain wasn't in gear. They can't be expected to legislate for senior moments on the part of someone in a hurry to post a reply.:D Dispair not!

Alun

lensman wrote:

please explain

I was assuming you and Srameen were saying there were no badgers in Ireland, which, assuming Badgerwatch Ireland isn't using high powered scopes to watch them over in Britain and not here in Ireland, would appear to be not true

Or did you mean something else entirely?

lensman

Alun wrote:

I was assuming you and Srameen were saying there were no badgers in Ireland, which, assuming Badgerwatch Ireland isn't using high powered scopes to watch them over in Britain and not here in Ireland, would appear to be not true

Or did you mean something else entirely?

no,...I was just adding to what Srameen said " The Stoat is what many here refer to as a Weasel. Stoats, Otters, Pine Martens are all members of the weasel family " by stating that Badgers are members of the family also (Mustelidae)

Alun

lensman wrote:

no,...I was just adding to what Srameen said " The Stoat is what many here refer to as a Weasel. Stoats, Otters, Pine Martens are all members of the weasel family " by stating that Badgers are members of the family also (Mustelidae)

Ah, OK then! Sorry for the confusion

Pontius

Hi there, I'm up in Co.Leitrim and have both Otters and Pine martens near by. I say nearby as the Pine Martens were actually living in the roof of my old kitchen. I eventually got to the stage where I was feeding them on raw liver and cat food etc by hand. They seem to have no fear of humans at all. When first caught trashing my rubbish bin they would get defensive too. I had a relationship with the Pine Martens for a couple of years until the old kitchen had to be pulled down. However I've seen them back recently fighting the cats for their food.
We have a good head of Otters up here in the River Bonet near Dromahair. I have a feeder stream near me and saw them three times last year. At the moment I'm spending a lot of time staking out to film them for a potential documentary on the subject of both species in Leitrim. I'll post details if I get decent HD footage of them.
Incidentally, I was in Thailand last year and in one of the shows they had Otters trained like dogs..retrieving Heineken cans etc from a pool. They let us get pictures taken holding them too. They were really cute and far too friendly. The Otters we have here though are very shy and also very dark..almost black and a different colour to any Otters I've seen anywhere else.
There ye go..just thought you'd like to know this stuff.
Cheers
Patrick

gillyfromlyre

The hubby was swimming last summer and had a close encounter with 2 otters. I saw them swimming behind him and shouted out to him "theres a shark behind you".You should have seen the fat lards face when he saw the otters, he went totally pale and started screaming. When he got to the shore and realised they were just otters he was mortified. He went running straight towards the lifeguard who was bent over laughing and gave him a kick in the arse, the lifeguard wasn't too impressed and threatened the hubby with a visit from his solicitor so I quickly intervened and dragged my eejit of a hubby off, he hasn't swam since lol.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Are you saying you saw Otters in the sea? If so can you tell me where? I'm well aware that Ireland has one of the highest densities of Otters in Europe and have seen many in both fresh and sea water but I've always found them very timid of people in the water so your experience has me intrigued. I would be interested to know if it's on of the locations I have visited to record Otters.

gillyfromlyre

Tralee bay is where it happened, there are loads of otters there, I'm beginning to think their sight mustn't be the best because they have walked out of the water right in front of our dogs sometimes,thankfully getting back into the water just in time

myjugsarehuge

We saw 2 otters regularly in the estuary near Kilbrittain down on the south Cork coast last New year and also at White Strand (I think) near Old Kinsale head, one ran across the beach in front of us, there were quite a few people about, some with dogs, so it wasn't shy at all.

Cleahaigh

I've been fishing all my life aswell, sea and fresh water and have seen more otters in both environments than i can remember. However the chances of actually seeing an otter at any given place at any given time is pretty remote with one notable exception - otters that have their territories in the sea have to enter fresh water every few days to wash the salt out of their pelts so an excellent place to observe otters is in a fresh water lake that is very close to the coast and reasonably remote.

Deer Hunter DL

we have otters here in donegal i seen too big otters around the harbour of killybegs not long ago

bobbytwo

There are otters the full lenght of the river Lee in co.cork. Ive seen them around the Mercy Hospital area on several occasions, the Lee fields, the Anglers Rest and around Carrigadrohid.

Also easy sightings regular in the fresh water lake beside Inchydoney, Clonakility.

boneless

I was in Belderrig in north Mayo a while back. While I didn't actually see otters I saw plenty of signs of them in the form of spraints on rocks down by the shore and fresh fish bones nearby. The fishbone may not have been from otter activity but I assume it was due to the proximity of the spraints.

Zzippy

I fish fresh and salt water and see otters all the time, in one location I fish (in an urban environment) you'd be nearly guaranteed to see them at least once every 2/3 times you'd be there. I've even hooked one by mistake while flyfishing (well it was dark, I didn't know he was there!). No harm done, the fly pulled out quite easily - was pretty worried I'd have to catch him and unhook him :eek:
I usually fish the summer months until well into the night and you'd only see otters from dusk on, they aren't shy and will happily come into the pool and fish with you there. After hooking one, I tend to stop fishing now when I see one and let him have the pool until he's got a fish I've even had them surface right beside me in the dark and make a huge splash when they see you there, not sure who was more scared tbh!

olaola

We spotted three otters in the Grand Canal between Suir Road & Goldenbridge locks on Monday evening. One of them had an eel in its mouth and seemed to 'perform' for any onlooking public!

cowzerp

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055462897

1st page, this was in north dublin..there where 4 of them..
i would not disclose the exact location as i would fear they could be hunted..i only got a pic of 2 as the others ran off when they seen me..

Half-cocked

Saw a dead otter on a laneway near the South Slobs in Wexford last week:( It was pretty big, close to a metre long I'd guess. They are common enough down that neck of the woods, just very timid.

ohknee

Agree with Bobbytwo.

Have seen otters on the Lee at Victoria cross,the Lee fields where it was only 6 or 7 feet from me,the Curraheen river and where the Douglas Etuary and Lough Mahon meet by the old railway line.

Seen all the above while doing a spot of fishing.

gversey

I was fishing yesterday in the cold,,i had my hood up and while i was baiting up the hook and heard rustling in my bait bag beside me,assuming it was a dog as i seen so many people walking their dogs on the pier that morning i turned to shu the dog,..to my surprise and shock it was a big otter,he just looked at me, turned and walked off without a care in the world,i was so amazed( never seen an otter close up) that i dropped everything and walked around the corner to see where he was going, ever so slowly he walked down the steps of the peir and into the sea and swam off..he was no more than two foot away from me,he had a scarred face and pink patches on his nose.Later i told my father about my experience and he told me he was told that there are many in the area....I was amazed.

Hammiepeters

gversey wrote: »

I was fishing yesterday in the cold,,i had my hood up and while i was baiting up the hook and heard rustling in my bait bag beside me,assuming it was a dog as i seen so many people walking their dogs on the pier that morning i turned to shu the dog,..to my surprise and shock it was a big otter,he just looked at me, turned and walked off without a care in the world,i was so amazed( never seen an otter close up) that i dropped everything and walked around the corner to see where he was going, ever so slowly he walked down the steps of the peir and into the sea and swam off..he was no more than two foot away from me,he had a scarred face and pink patches on his nose.Later i told my father about my experience and he told me he was told that there are many in the area....I was amazed.

Where was that?

bernard0368

I fish the liffey from sallins to clane and there are quite a few otters in the area. One of which is quite brave and will try steal the fish of you line.

frost

i see this lad at least a few times a month while walking the kids the school. that's an eel in his mouth.
seems to have hurt his nose - any chance it was the same one you saw gversey?

Connacht

While otters are quite hard to see, what can more easily be spotted is their droppings (called spraints). They leave them on prominent spots, like a raised up tuft of grass along a riverside.
Here's one I came across last week in Mayo.

Kaldorn

where in mayo did you see it?

Connacht

Not far from Newport.

myjugsarehuge

I saw a pair a few times in the estuary whilst on holiday at Kilbrittain the winter before last, also one ran up across the beach at white strand near the old head of Kinsale, only about 20 yards away and there were lots of people about.