OTTERS in Ireland

gversey

frost wrote: »

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?

Id put money on it that it was him/her,exact marking.. wicklow harbour?

pops

Would these spraints be quite slimy and fishy smelling? If so, then obviously this is what my dog is constantantly rolling about in as we live beside a freshwater lake not far from the sea near rossaveel in Galway.

stephen_k

pops wrote: »

Would these spraints be quite slimy and fishy smelling? If so, then obviously this is what my dog is constantantly rolling about in as we live beside a freshwater lake not far from the sea near rossaveel in Galway.

I saw a program on Beeb2 (i think) discussing this very thing, according to it, otter sprints do not smell unpleasant, if you find spraints that do smell bad then they are Mink....

prentice

grew up in the west of ireland so i know my otters
plenty on the west coast at the moment. i have seen 7 or 8 last year, including two mothers with a litter in tow.

i have also seen them in dublin. around the liffey. beautiful animals they are.

Tip for finding them. Close to sunset find a small lake close to the sea side.
you will often find them there where they go to bathe and wash the salt off their fur if they have been sea fishing.

Pigeon Reaper

In the past few months an otter has been sighted between poolbeg yacht club and grand canal dock. There's been a number of sightings by people in the marina and spraints have been found near the slipway. It's amazing to think one would live in such an industrial area.

lightening

Check this out... http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055493438

Weirdly, (I think) Dublin has turned in to some sort of sanctuary for a lot of wildlife! No poisoning and no hunting. In the last year I have seen Badgers. Peregrine falcons, Foxes (loads of them!), Egrets, Buzzards, dolphins and lots of other animals that you wouldn't have seen years ago.

Pigeon Reaper

you forgot the odd seal wandering up the liffey and the colony on Bull Island. Please don't try to pet them on the beach as some people have been inclined to try lately.

lightening

Pigeon Reaper wrote: »

Please don't try to pet them on the beach as some people have been inclined to try lately.

Did you actually see this happen? What way did the seals react?

Pigeon Reaper

The seals darted straight into the water all 14 of them. They normally don't even bother looking up until people are within 50 metres of them. You can usally see all the detail you'd ever want from a distance with binoculars or a 300mm camera lense. There's no need to go near them but people still go right up and some do try to touch them which isn't good as it disturbs them. In the water it's a whole other matter as they'll often play grab the fin if you're diving or snorkelling. They'll come up behind you and nip the fins darting off when you look around.

sesswhat

I came across this otter by the roadside last night and went back to take a couple of pictures today. The location is quite near a lake where I've often seen spraints. As you can see, the teeth are in pretty poor condition.

rororoyourboat

Roen wrote: »

There's loads (relatively) along the Suir, especially near Carrick-on-Suir. Also plenty on the Blackwater and up the Glenshelane valley near Cappoquin.
Not exactly near Dublin but there must be some closer, I read in a book or on Mooney's website that Ireland has the healthiest population of Otters in Europe.

I often saw an otter in the Suir, in CLonmel, one my way home from school about three years. Dunno if they're still around, haven't seen one lately.

Connacht

I was up in one of the plantation forests in Mayo yesterday.
There was a kestrel hovering, who then went and landed on a conifer. So I was looking at her (she was female), when, from behind me I heard a 'glub, glub' bubbly sound from one of the drainage ditches running along the forest track.
I waited for the sound to pass me by, then stood up and enjoyed watching an adult otter travelling along the ditch. He didn't notice me at all, so just kept on going at a leisurely pace.
Ten minutes later, another one did exactly the same thing, travelling in the same direction, so I assume it wasn't the same animal. Wonderful sight. BTW, the water in the drain was no more than 80 cm wide and around 20 cm deep.

Kaldorn

Connacht wrote: »

I was up in one of the plantation forests in Mayo yesterday..

Wherabouts in Mayo was this? Near Ballycroy by any chance?

Connacht

No not near B'croy.
I'd rather not say if you don't mind. So many ass****s out there.

Kaldorn

I respect that

Kaldorn

i saw one this morning on the liffey...it looked like it loved the burst banks

Dee_animallover

My fiance sees them on the river suck around the ballinasloe area, only saw one the other day!

gothwalk

I've seen some on the Slaney in years past, and I THINK I saw one in the little river that flows through Maynooth (the Lyreen?) last winter, though I couldn't swear to it - it was only a brief glimpse.

Valmont

Does anyone know if there is a problem with the poaching of otters?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Valmont wrote: »

Does anyone know if there is a problem with the poaching of otters?

Never heard of it and in my job I think I would have.

boneless

Valmont wrote: »

Does anyone know if there is a problem with the poaching of otters?

I heard reports from the north of gamekeepers shooting them in the 1970s near trout rivers but never heard of them being poached.

Valmont

That's good to know. I just assumed there would be some people who would break the rules and trap them.

IrlCasey

I was having a smoke outside the office (accenture) this morning @ 0715 (had a out of hours transition through the night) and was lookng in to the canal in front of the office at movement - not only was it an otter but there were at least four of them. Some in the water and the others were running arund on the inflatable boom that is currently in place at Grand Canal Plaza - what a joy to see.

Kaldorn

thats is deadly can you get any pics of them?

IrlCasey

I wish i had had my camera or even my phone on me at the time - but i have just been told that tomorrow will be another all nighter so am coming prepared just in case the little fellas are about again during my fag breaks! It was really amazing to see, i didnt realise there were otters in the city centre. Fingers crossed. Slan

IrlCasey

Heading home now after 5 fag breaks with camera in hand and no joy - the lads don't seem to about this morning - ah well, will keep an eye out and post pics if i catch them. Cheers

UltimateMale

When I was younger I used to see them regulair when I would be out angling. Theri common enough. I beleive they only eat they head of the fish ?

Ruana

gothwalk wrote: »

I've seen some on the Slaney in years past, and I THINK I saw one in the little river that flows through Maynooth (the Lyreen?) last winter, though I couldn't swear to it - it was only a brief glimpse.

I too thought I saw one on the river in Maynooth, but again brief glimpse so not sure, this was last summer. Not so common nowadays unfortunately

niallb

I used to see them regularly when I was younger on the river Dodder below the weir near Orwell Road near the Dropping Well in Milltown. There were two of them for a long time.
This was the late eighties, and there were plenty of kingfishers down there too.

One thing I remember is that they were strangely punctual and always swam past about the same time each night. Might be worth recording the time if you see them, and come back to the same spot at about the same time next chance you get with a camera.

Rainbowsend

lucky enough to get a picture of this little beauty this morning!