Tales From the Riverbank

I had been watching the forecast all week, waiting for a break in the weather to give me a chance to get out with my camera. As soon as the dogs were walked I was off to my first port of call to spend a little time by the river hoping I would be lucky enough to see an Otter. Now most wildlife photographers around here will know that Blandford is the best place to see Otters and even then it can be hit and miss. When I arrived at Blandford the river was in flood, flowing fast and full of mud, and the Sun was struggling to do what the forecasters had promised.

Standing on the riverbank, looking out over water filled with eddies and bubbles, it seemed that the only wildlife around was a couple of Swans, beautiful in themselves of course but not what I had come for. It is easy to become despondent in these circumstances, but I have been doing this sort of thing for long enough to know that it can take hours of waiting and many days with an empty lens, I was ready to watch and wait, bide my time and prepare myself for disappointment.

So I was quite pleased when, after literally a minute of scanning the far bank, an Otter appeared and spent he next two hours putting on a show with the only issue being the lack of sunlight. I would have loved to tell you that it took incredible tracking skills and hours of patience to find her but that is how it goes sometimes. 

From then on the only thing I had to do was watch and enjoy myself! Well, to keep track of lines of Otter bubbles in a river full of bubbles. To predict where the Otter will surface once the bubbles have stopped. To spot, focus and press the button before the speedy little thing dives again. Easy! 

A bit of Sun would have been nice though!