[sion01]

Got really excited early this morning I actually saw an otter .Yes an otter.An otter.I can't believe it.It was lolloping by the side of the road as I went to work at the ungodly hour of four.Really cheered me up,i've never seen one before appart then on telly.Much bigger then i'd imagined them to be.Great.Im still buzzing

[Springlands]

No wonder you are buzzing Sion - what a lovely start to the day.

[tosca100]

Wow, Lucky you. We have seen lots of signs of otter close to here but have yet to come close to seeing one. We would like to go out very early but we have had such a lot of fog, and anyway we have the chickens to let out.

[snowdrops]

Got really excited early this morning I actually saw an otter .Yes an otter.An otter.I can't believe it.It was lolloping by the side of the road as I went to work at the ungodly hour of four.Really cheered me up,i've never seen one before appart then on telly.Much bigger then i'd imagined them to be.Great.Im still buzzing

How wonderful I would love to see a wild otter.. We once went to an otter sanctuary when the children were small. Very smelly as I recall, DD bought a glove puppet otter that she called Otty   I came across it last week,it seems a long time ago since they were little.

[diospyros]

Got really excited early this morning I actually saw an otter .Yes an otter.An otter.I can't believe it.It was lolloping by the side of the road as I went to work at the ungodly hour of four.Really cheered me up,i've never seen one before appart then on telly.Much bigger then i'd imagined them to be.Great.Im still buzzing

I love that phrase "lolloping" describes them exactly! They are definitely getting more common - I saw tracks the other week on the Churnet and was excited enough about that.  Saw wild otters in Scotland summer before last.  Crawled through mud and midges for an hour before breakfast following a little blip in the sea, came back and found a whole family playing in the harbour! 

[Thrift]

Wonderful to see them in the flesh.

I have only ever seen one very close - I was with a friend, setting up our easels by the river, when one appeared in the water. He was repeatedly diving for fish and then turning onto his back, clutching them between his paws and having breakfast.

[sion01]

I saw one killed on the road about 30 to 35 years ago on the far end of the Lleyn Peninsular where I was bought up where there are no rivers that you'd think would sustain otters,I remember an old fisherman saying at the time that they were in the sea and I recall that he hated them as they ate the fish out of his nets. Theyr'e sea dwellers in Scotland arn't they so although I was sceptical of the old fisherman at the time he might just have been telling the truth 

[3 allotments]

I saw an otter last year i was on my sons stag do we went to stay in a wooden chalet in scotland, i hired a boat for the weekend we went fishing in loch etive near oban (it was beautiful),then tried fishing off the bank i thought i saw a big fish splashing about,no it was an otter playing /eating a fish must have 10-15 feet from us  it was great ive never seen one before,then people appeared everywhere taking photos of it i took some but it looks like a blip on the water, it was so comical, like look what ive caught  we didnt catch anything  .darren

[Springlands]

It sunshine has brought the odd ladybird out of hiding - lovely to see. I even heard the buzzing of a bee yesterday but could not see it. 

[tosca100]

It sunshine has brought the odd ladybird out of hiding - lovely to see. I even heard the buzzing of a bee yesterday but could not see it. 

We have had masses of bees out here for weeks, no idea where they are coming from. There has not been much for them except snowdrops so they have been bothering the chickens by swarming round the feed. The large cornus tree we have is in flower now, and heaving. We have had ladybirds and a butterfly too.

[diospyros]

Lots of butterflies today, mianly small tortoisehell but the odd peacock and one brimstone.  Also a fair few bumblebees!

[snowdrops]

A few butterflies up on the plot here too,& a rather friendly Staffy who shouldn't have been there

[devonbarmygardener]

We saw what looks like a High Brown Fritillary butterfly (according to the pics on the uk butterfly website.
Apparently they are common to this area so it's quite likely.

[Springlands]

The foxes were 'courting' in my garden at about three this morning.    They must not have read the text book that said their courting month is February.   

[diospyros]

Lots of bumblebees.  They are definitely enjoying the flowering currant in my front garden (var. Albescens), but I can't work out why they are buzzing round the front door.  Whether they have been hibernating somewhere, or are looking for somewhere to make a nest