Otters.

13/6/09.
Had a phone call from Liz Wilkin yesterday she has a problem with a nest of Blue Tits, they built at the bottom of a pipe and her daughters were concerned how they were going to get out.
Went up and met John this afternoon and after much discussion decided the best plan was to dig around the bottom of the pipe until we could lean the pipe at an increasing angle so the young ones could scramble out.
The pipe had been one end of a clothes line and was bedded in concrete and the nest was approx 50" down, we dug around until we had it loose and then laid it over a few degrees and I told John to increase the angle a little each day.
On Wednesday Liz phoned to say they had flown.
The only casualty in this was John , during the digging a piece of the pipe broke off and hit him on the head luckily no great damage was done
14/6/09
Grey Heron over the valley, they often come down at this time of year but with all the leaf cover they have difficulty getting down to the river.
18/6/09
Flock of Long Tailed Tits by Huers ,at least 12, Gannets & Kittiwakes of Carn Barges.
A sequel to a story that started around a year ago, you may remember that a baby Otter was found in the valley which was taken to Paradise Park and then transferred to a sanctuary in Hampshire.
She was raised to adulthood and given the name Lottie and has now returned to the valley with another female called Avon, they have been kept in a private location for some weeks in a man made holt inside a large pen and fed every day but without human contact .
They have now reached the stage where they can be released but in a controlled way, the gate to the pen will be left open so they can come and go as they please but there will be food left until they no longer need it.
As a follow up to this the sanctuary in Hampshire has other Otters which need release areas so we may get some more in due course.
I have been lucky enough to see them on a couple of occasions the last time was around half nine last night 23/6/09.