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Otters again

Yes. The Trotskyite Beeb, the pen-pushing EA quango, plus perhaps 98% of the British public - how can so many people be wrong, I wonder...
 
A month ago I had the pleasure of seeing an otter emerge from the river on to the far bank less than 20 metres away, where it went about its business for 35/40 seconds or so before slipping back into the river. I have to say it was captivating - during the whole of this time barbel and chub were evident in my swim and 20 minutes later I hooked and landed a chub.

Sorry if that doesn't suit the "We are all doomed" approach but I would rather see an otter than mink and I would rather fish in an environment that every now and then I have the chance to see something more than fish.

I fished the Wye on Saturday and as it approached dusk the sun dropped in the sky, a buzzard flew low overhead and the sunlight lit up its underside, for a few seconds it looked as if it was on fire - magnificent.

Lets all take a more balanced view - we would all do well to read Paul's view on the subject.

atb


Les
 
Sorry Les but you'll have few comrades agreeing with you on this matter, if their local river has been devastated by these 'vermin', as has mine has.
I take it your local is the Wye, a large river, like the Thames, Severn and Trent. These rivers seem to be holding their own, for now, but smaller rivers have been plundered and raped by these animals. They kill every day of their lives and a 16lb barbel or a 50lb carp are on their shopping list, they have no preference. They've even taken signets and other water fowl in my area. In Norfolk a couple of months ago they were noted to have killed a pair of Bitterns, God knows what else they've killed in the dense reed beds of the fens.
They are here to stay for now and we have to live with that, but I for one am very unhappy these animals have been re-introduce in such large numbers, sometimes without the knowledge of the land owners or proper authorities.
Apparently Kent is free of them right now, not for long though.

ps I have emailed the BBC re this matter and pointed out to them at some length the negative impact the otters are having throughout England.
I urge anyone here who's sport or fishery has been affected by these animals to do likewise.
 
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Paul Boote said:
Yes. The Trotskyite Beeb, the pen-pushing EA quango, plus perhaps 98% of the British public - how can so many people be wrong, I wonder...
Click to expand...

T'is propaganda Paul, the oh so healthy River Thames, home to otters, water voles and even privy to an annual run of salmon..... All going well along Old Father Thames, must be cos the media has said so, eh??

And here is a bit of true happenings along the Thames valley:
I've been in the 'privileged' position of seeing ol' Tarker three times this year, first occasion was on the river Windrush with a now ever 'endangered' water vole firmly clamped between his jaws and yes contrary to what NE tried informing me, it was a vole as I'd seen it on a weed raft only 1 hour earlier beside the bridge at Crawley.

Second time was on the Cherwell near Enslow, swimming through my swim, still managed to catch a 4lb chub only 20 minutes after seeing it.

My third encounter this year was whilst fishing a tough (getting tougher) gravel pit, this time ol' sweet little furry cute Tarker was waddling across the bank with a coot hanging outta its gob.
Looking across 30 acres of water that is becoming increasingly devoid of bird life, back in May there was at least 20 coots, now there is only one, soon there will be NONE!!
(but never fear there is a resident otter in the area, a true ecological success)

But if the powers that be want to delude themselves, mislead gullible Joe public, that all is good, who am I to disagree.

Paul, just one last point on your post I've quoted, bear in mind people tend to see what they want to see....
 
Funny (not) thing re mink is, yes they are vermin, a blight even. Yes they have had an impact on the ecological balance of our waterways, but I have always seen them around, going right back to my teen years fishing in and around the Severn at Tewkesbury. (we're talking 1970 here) There were always plenty of water fowl, voles, rabbits, fish and on. In all those years they never impacted on the rivers/lakes as the otter is doing so now.
 
Colin Gordon said:
T'is propaganda Paul, the oh so healthy River Thames, home to otters, water voles and even privy to an annual run of salmon..... All going well along Old Father Thames, must be cos the media has said so, eh??

And here is a bit of true happenings along the Thames valley:
I've been in the 'privileged' position of seeing ol' Tarker three times this year, first occasion was on the river Windrush with a now ever 'endangered' water vole firmly clamped between his jaws and yes contrary to what NE tried informing me, it was a vole as I'd seen it on a weed raft only 1 hour earlier beside the bridge at Crawley.

Second time was on the Cherwell near Enslow, swimming through my swim, still managed to catch a 4lb chub only 20 minutes after seeing it.

My third encounter this year was whilst fishing a tough (getting tougher) gravel pit, this time ol' sweet little furry cute Tarker was waddling across the bank with a coot hanging outta its gob.
Looking across 30 acres of water that is becoming increasingly devoid of bird life, back in May there was at least 20 coots, now there is only one, soon there will be NONE!!
(but never fear there is a resident otter in the area, a true ecological success)

But if the powers that be want to delude themselves, mislead gullible Joe public, that all is good, who am I to disagree.

Paul, just one last point on your post I've quoted, bear in mind people tend to see what they want to see....
Click to expand...



Well, very soon, I fear, once the propagandizing EA has been thorougly chopped up, we won't have rivers (except, of course, those cherrypicked by the smart, spotty money and run by Rivers Trusts) to whine about, otters or no otters. Welcome to the Big Society.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vc1df/Farming_Today_Farming_Today_This_Week/
 
The BBC had the same otter propaganda on the "Today" programme on radio 4 this morning. They give the impresion that the otter has recolonised it's old haunts naturally there is no mention of mass introductions by miss guided do gooders who have given no thought to the consequences of their actions. The bever has been reintroduced and I hear talk of the wolf being let loose in Scotland. There is a reason why these creatures died out it is called evolution. Unfortunately the anglers point of view on otters is on a hiding to nothing with the public.
Otters: warm, cute, furry, and cuddly.
Fish: cold, wet, and slimmy.
No contest.
 
I for one agree with Les.

Otters are now present on most of the rivers I fish and know. I dont mind a bit.
 
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and when your sitting, waiting for a week, you might change your mind, good luck.
 
Paul Boote said:
Well, very soon, I fear, once the propagandizing EA has been thorougly chopped up, we won't have rivers (except, of course, those cherrypicked by the smart, spotty money and run by Rivers Trusts) to whine about, otters or no otters. Welcome to the Big Society.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00vc1df/Farming_Today_Farming_Today_This_Week/
Click to expand...

To be perfectly honest this scenario is happening even with the EA's input (very laughable, "input"), I only need to take a walk along my local rivers too see first hand the EA's way of improving fisheries.

The Thames, already a drainage channel which main purposes are clearly; abstraction, sewage discharge, a convenient means to run off flood water from the inland to sea and leisure boat craft.

The Cherwell; very similar to the Thames!

The Windrush, well in summer its levels are so pathetic, due in the main to evapouration of the water table, also a dumping ground for sewage.

The Evenlode, absolutely destroyed by the EA's flood prevention scheme; dredging and tree felling etc

So what are the EA doing to combat these issues, in short NOTHING!!
Worse they're the agency that sanctions the ills faced by our rivers and the same body responsible for improving them.

Better the devil you know, I don't think so! The more I consider it from a personal perspective the more apparent it becomes, it'd be nigh on impossible to do a worse job of maintaining my local river fisheries, let alone carry out the agency's pledge to improve them.

Can things get any worse, yes but only just as there are still a few fish about but not many!!
Then in a PR exercise to make the gullible Joe public think they're doing a good job with our waterways, they actively encourage the re-introduction of otters to areas that can't even sustain there meagre fish stock levels.

Now I'm not so naive as to believe that otters are the main issue causing poor fish stocks, I wouldn't even place them as a major problem but why would any half sane person think to increase the number of apex predators in an environment that is already struggling?
 
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Colin, my heart also bleeds with misery and depression from the state of our wonderful (ex) rivers are in.
Your post was moving, factual, very well constructed and executed.
I thus nominate you for 'post of the day'. :)
 
Colin Gordon said:
To be perfectly honest this scenario is happening even with the EA's input (very laughable, "input"), I only need to take a walk along my local rivers too see first hand the EA's way of improving fisheries.

The Thames, already a drainage channel which main purposes are clearly; abstraction, sewage discharge, a convient means to run off flood water from the inland to sea and leisure boat craft.

The Cherwell; very similar to the Thames!

The Windrush, well in summer its levels are so pathetic, due in the main to evapouration of the water table, also a dumping ground for sewage.

The Evenlode, absolutely destroyed by the EA's flood prevention scheme; dredging and tree felling etc

So what are the EA doing to combat these issues, in short NOTHING!!
Worse they're the agency that sanctions the ills faced by our rivers is the same body for improving them.

Better the devil you know, I don't think so! The more I consider it from a personal perspective the more apparent it becomes, it'd be nigh on impossible to do a worse job of maintaining my local river fisheries, let alone carry out the agency's pledge to improve them.

Can things get any worse, yes but only just as there are still a few fish about but not many!!
Then in a PR exercise to make the gullible Joe public think they're doing a good job with our waterways, they actively encourage the re-introduction of otters to areas that can't even sustain there meagre fish stock levels.

Now I'm not so naive as to believe that otters are the main issue causing poor fish stocks, I wouldn't even place them as a major problem but why would any half sane person think to increase the number of apex predators in an environment that is already struggling?
Click to expand...

Well said that man
 
Tony Rocca said:
Crikey, must be grim down south Colin.

Its all fine and dandy oop norf.
Click to expand...

From what I can ascertain Tony, a lot of southern rivers are going downhill for various reasons, don't know what everyone else thinks? In Oxfordshire though especially, it's pretty heartbreaking for me as a younger angler, hearing about how my local rivers used to be compared to how they are now... And even more heartbreaking is the fact that I can't see them ever getting back to how they were.
 
Tony Rocca said:
Crikey, must be grim down south Colin.

Its all fine and dandy oop norf.
Click to expand...

My local river (Swale) has had otters resident for as long as I remember. Otter numbers are supposed to have increased. Luckily, I'm not seeing an obvious deterioration in the fishing (I'm sure that others will disagree). I do know that some stillwaters in reasonable proximity to the river have taken a pounding. My suspicion is that the extra numbers of otters, introduced or offspring, have been forced to move out of existing otter territory on the river. As far as I'm concerned, cormorants are a far bigger issue locally than the otters.
 
All I want to know is what's so special about Kent and can it be replicated in other parts of the country such as Dorset where the Avon and Stour are 'benefiting' from the resurgence of the otter?

Any suggestions as to why the otters have not found their way back into Kent? Topography? No direct linkage to other watercourses?


Dave
 
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