Runt

Postie called in to the shop the other day so I asked if he wanted some company for the day. The target for the day was to get a view of the Otter family. We headed along the road spotting the odd GN Diver, RB Merg, Greenshank and the inevitable view of a larger bird cruising along the ridge. We stopped for a better look at this sub-adult Golden Eagle.

While scanning around for any Otters I picked up this Slavonian Gebe...

...and then an Otter surfaced not too far away. This one was on a bit of a mission, only stopping occasionally to munch on a fish.

We strolled along, keeping an eye on it but it was heading for the holt. We moved on and found another Otter on a distant point eating a large fish but there was no sign of any youngsters. We headed back towards the first Otter to see if there was a reason behind the haste - a bit of waiting around and then these three came swimming past - result.

It was nice to see these Otter going about their business but you can also see it's quite a demanding time for the mother. The youngsters need to learn how to swim, dive and find food but she will be the only provider to start with. Just to add to the pressure there is a runt in the litter who is not too fond of staying in the water yet! The small one did get most of the fish that were brought ashore. They are not the only Otters in the area - just look in the background of this shot.

Not all encounters will be friendly but this one was.

Always learning, the youngsters will do as their mother does...

...but when it comes to hunting there is no better provider...

...and you just have to hope that the runt will survive.