Archived press release
Date Published: 19/06/08
The otter, one of Britain’s rarest mammals, is making a return to these parts
Aylesbury Vale District Council is hoping to encourage otters back to the district by providing them with ready-made homes.
The council has teamed up with the BTCV charity and Vale Countryside Volunteers to build an artificial otter home, known as a holt, in the heart of Buckingham.
Volunteers will be constructing the holt at Bourton Park on 25 June. Otters are largely nocturnal animals, so a holt will provide a place for them to shelter during the day and perhaps to breed.
Spotting an otter was an almost impossible task a decade ago, after they were driven to near extinction by pollution, development and persecution. Now evidence of these elusive creatures is being found in and around the Buckingham area.
Initiatives by local landowners to control numbers of mink, a voracious non-native predator, are thought to be assisting the return of otters and other rare creatures such as water voles.
AVDC is aiming to build more otters’ holts in the Buckingham area to tempt the aquatic mammals to establish there. The council is working with landowners to identify more sites where they can set up the artificial homes.
Councillor David Thompson, AVDC Cabinet Member for Leisure, said: “It is important that we continue to improve conditions for otters over the coming years, particularly if we want to see healthy breeding populations locally. Should otters start to spread across the district, this will be a sign of the area’s improving environment, especially in terms of cleaner water.”
Local residents can become trained otter spotters and help AVDC monitor the district’s otter population. The council needs local people who can look for evidence of otters by the River Great Ouse once a month.
Volunteers will be shown how to spot signs of otters, and how to tell them apart from other river creatures. Trained volunteers can then choose to join a local group to survey for evidence of otters in and around Buckingham.
More than 30 volunteers have already received training from BTCV on how to spot the signs of otters, and farmers are being encouraged to create waterside habitats that will support the animals.
Susan Le, Buckingham Community Wildlife Project Officer at BTCV, said: “From records collected by otter spotter volunteers, we already know that otters are in the Buckingham area. By improving local habitats and constructing an otter holt from natural materials, it is hoped that more otters will be encouraged to settle and breed in Buckingham.”
If you would like to get involved in otter conservation work in Aylesbury Vale, please contact AVDC’s countryside team on 01296 427972.
People interested in helping to further enhance Bourton Park for wildlife can join the new Friends of Bourton and Heartlands Park group, which is set to have a consultation event on 8 July at Buckingham Athletic FC from 7pm.