Otters have been spotted at a Lancashire nature reserve for the first time.




There is much excitement at Mere Sands Wood, in Rufford, after a single otter was seen in January, followed by regular visits and then two otter appeared in April.

The last record of an otter close to the Lancashire Wildlife Trust reserve was in 1935.
Reserve manager Lindsay Beaton said: “We also know they have been at the Nuck’s Wood fishing lake about 2.5km away and there have been sightings on the nearby River Douglas.

“Given that otters can range up to 20km, it should be expected that they eventually found their way to Mere Sands Wood.”

Otters are fighting back after numbers plummeted due to an increase in the use of organophosphate pesticides, river pollution and loss of habitat in the 1950s and 1960s.

Lindsay said: “We also have a population of water voles on site and in boundary ditches but they are prey for American mink. The arrival of the otters will displace the mink and so protect the water voles, a species under serious threat.”

Otters are shy and use bankside vegetation for their holts, where they live. They will only live close to clean rivers where there is a plentiful supply of food. Marshes are an important habitat for raising young and as a source of frogs.

Lindsay said: “Mere Sands Wood is a great place for otters to live. They need space to lie up during the day; the undisturbed lake edges provide this opportunity. It is a haven from intensive agriculture and mowing of river banks nearby.

“Our lakes also have a good supply of fish and frogs in the wet areas, so the otters will not have to forage far to keep themselves fed.”

The Lancashire Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers are working to encourage the otters to make Mere Sands Wood a perfect habitat for otters to live in.