CAMERA footage of two otters captured on a river running through Petersfield has led to hopes that the lovable mammal is once again breeding on local waterways.
Otters were a common sight until the 1950s, when river pollution and loss of habitat decimated them, and they became almost extinct outside Scotland and parts of Wales and the West Country.
But due to a national campaign launched in the 1980’s, the otter population is recovering.
The Petersfield pair were filmed more than once using a ‘camera trap’ near Rotherlands Nature Reserve, which Tilmore Brooks runs through before joining the River Rother at Penns Place.
The Rother runs from Sheet to Penns Place and onto Midhurst, and camera traps were put in place early in 2015 by South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) rangers.
They were installed after fears that American Mink, which can decimate fish and vole populations, were present on the stream and river – but unexpectedly captured the antics of a young otter.
SDNPA ranger Laura Deane said: “It was exciting to see the first otter but this new film is even better.
“The high amount of otter activity caught on our wildlife cameras makes it very likely they are present on Rotherlands and other Petersfield greenspaces
“Otters are mainly solitary so seeing two together here for the first time is a sign that the river is returning to health enough to support the fish they eat.
“There’s been a real community effort to improve the habitat with local fishing groups, landowners and volunteers all working together to restore the river and encourage more sympathetic land management, this hard work is starting to pay off.
“It’s unclear whether this is a breeding pair but we’ll keep working to improve the river’s health so in future it will become a great spot to raise an otter family.”
Since 2015, when the young otter was filmed on two separate occasions, rangers and volunteers have been gradually finding more evidence of otter, mostly by droppings found on top of the ‘camera trap’ rafts put in place to check for mink.