Otter Sighting on Mull

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While we were on Mull for New Year we were lucky enough to spot plenty of wildlife, including deer, sea eagles and buzzards but the highlight of the week was an encounter with a wild otter on Loch Spelve while we were on the way down to Loch Buie.  We saw the famous 'Elvis', who was a resident wild otter in Tobermory harbour in 2009, but he was a performer and was easy to spot and photograph.  Unfortunately Elvis died in 2010 and we'd never seen an otter anywhere else on the island as they are a very elusive creature.


The otter in Loch Spelve
Travelling down to Loch Buie by car, a shout from my wife in the passenger seat, who had spotted something in the water, had me pulling over to see what it was. Suddenly a head popped up and this brown shape started to swim across the water. It was an otter.


The otter brings up a crab for lunch from the bottom of the loch
The otter enjoys its meal on the shore
Using the car as a portable hide, I started to snap away with my 500mm lens but it was very long distance and with a lot of cloud cover and showers, the light wasn't very good.  I decided to move the car back up the road hoping that the otter was used to cars travelling along this route and wouldn't be bothered by our presence. Luckily I was right and the otter completely ignored us.
Heading back out to find more food
We spent 30-minutes watching this graceful animal swim out, pick a meal from the bottom of the loch and head to shore to eat.  One thing we noticed is it is very well camouflaged amongst  the seaweed that lines the sea loch and to spot an otter is very difficult.
back to shore with more food
We hope to go back to the same point in the summer to see if we can spot the otter again.  Mull is renowned for its wildlife and it was good to know that there are still plenty of opportunities during the winter months as well as the summer.



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