Otter!

El_Dangeroso

Saw this cute little guy in the enclosed area of water just outside Claddagh church today:

https://vid.me/1GbH

He seemed to be having great fun catching and eating fish and was attracting quite the crowd.

I've never seen an otter there before, is that a common occurrence?

Gremlinertia

Thanks for posting that, must go for a look when i get a chance..

Zzippy

Love seeing these guys, beautiful animals. See them regularly in the main river and canal, even hooked one in the tail once while flyfishing just below Salmon Weir Bridge (only for a few seconds, the hook came out easily). Another good spot for them is at the Bridge Mills.

Gremlinertia

I didn't realise they were around so frequently, thanks for the locations too.

Links234

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

I've never seen an otter there before, is that a common occurrence?

Yup, often spotted near the fisheries tower, saw one eating an eel once

El_Dangeroso

Links234 wrote: »

Yup, often spotted near the fisheries tower, saw one eating an eel once

Ooh! Gotta keep my eyes out passing that area. They are so cute!

TerrorFirmer

Links234 wrote: »

Yup, often spotted near the fisheries tower, saw one eating an eel once

I saw my first one down at the arch a few months ago, I had never seen one in Galway before that!

pmasterson95

Cool. Gotta keep my eyes open at these spots!

Wompa1

9 years in the city and didn't see an Otter. I feel cheated!

I guess I should have gone to scope them out.

Saw a couple of seals...that's about it.

The King of Moo

I saw one last week (my first real otter in the wild!) as I was walking along the river towards the Salmon Weir Bridge from O'Brien's Bridge.
I looked down, and as he surfaced he looked right at me for a few seconds and opened his mouth a few times, as though to say, "my fish buddy, on your bike."

He was supercool, and really cute, just like a cheeky river dog.

redarmyblues

Might not that be a mink in the video, the behaviour suggests so, otters are very shy while minks are quite brazen. Its hard to tell the size and colour of the animal in the video, but if it was cat sized its a mink, if its an otter it would be at least twice the size of a cat more like a Labrador size.

listermint

redarmyblues wrote: »

Might not that be a mink in the video, the behaviour suggests so, otters are very shy while minks are quite brazen. Its hard to tell the size and colour of the animal in the video, but if it was cat sized its a mink, if its an otter it would be at least twice the size of a cat more like a Labrador size.

The colour variaton around the mouth and cheeks ,and the head shape suggests its an Otter and not a Mink.

Zzippy

redarmyblues wrote: »

Might not that be a mink in the video, the behaviour suggests so, otters are very shy while minks are quite brazen. Its hard to tell the size and colour of the animal in the video, but if it was cat sized its a mink, if its an otter it would be at least twice the size of a cat more like a Labrador size.

I've seen both up close (very close, handled both on occasion) and that is definitely an otter, not a mink. There are also mink in the city too, I've seen them on the canal upstream from Wards, and the nearby swan family have lost a number of cygnets the last 2 years probably to mink.

joeKel73

They're quite common further down at the end of Nimmo's pier too, they appear just as it's getting dusky.

This was a few months ago, but these two were calling to each other for a while when were either playing or mating in the water together...



Then as it got darker they seemed to grow in confidence and came up at the back of the pier wall and actually started to climb up to where we were, before sliding back into the water. They later came up the steps, ran along the pier and down other steps.

joeKel73

That time we say them on Nimmos pier there was actually a guy set up to film otters on the grassy bank just before the weir across from the Salt House, so near where the OP saw them. He was filming for a new nature series "Ireland's Wild Cities" for the Crossing the Lines production company.

He came down to Nimmo's pier early the next night, but of course they were camera shy and he was hoping to film them closer to the city. Thankfully they did appear later that night on the grassy bank, so expect to see some Galway otters when that series gets aired.

Bazzy

thats not an otter OP

Thats the loch ness monster its escaped from Scotland and is now in Galway

* we need more tourism