Otters and Foxes

The Otter and the Fox are the two mammals that I've had very little success in seeing in my home county of Lincolnshire, but Norwich seems to have a wealth of both (I hear). I've heard a lot of stories from different people about good sites to see both in the City, but with little success so far.

The Otter has caused a great deal of frustration due to how elusive it seems to be. The UEA has a nice little group that seem photogenic if you're there at the right time and place, everytime we've been they've been absent. I've heard stories of them along the river by Cow Tower, and even in people's gardens in Hellesdon! The photo above was taken at the RSPB's Strumpshaw Fen nature reserve near Brundall, and only the third time I've seen a wild Otter. The first time was also at Strumpshaw, when an Otter came to within a metre of me, hissing, in summer last year, and I watched one in the distance on Lake Windermere in the Lake District being mobbed by gulls. Hopefully this year I'll find a regular spot inside the City to watch them.

Foxes, by all accounts, are everywhere in Norwich. Last year I was living in Sprowston and was woken at 3am by a pair of them barking on the pavement in front of the house. I've seen them crossing roads near the UEA, Mousehold Heath and Thorpe St Andrew. Up where I'm from in Lincolnshire, the gamekeepers have practically wiped out the 'country fox' so I'd never seen one properly until moving to Norwich. The photo above was taken on my way home from Suffolk a couple of years back, when I stopped the car next to what I thought on first glance was a stray dog. I was amazed to see one so close, it actually walked over and sniffed the camera lens! More recently I was working at an event in Colchester's Castle Park and had a vixen circling around us, tempted by the hot food on offer!

I found evidence of Foxes in Mousehold Heath last week so will keep checking to see if I can get some good photos.