A beautiful wild Otter shaking like a wet dog on Mull Scotland

This rare and elusive animal is the European Otter (lutra lutra), seen here on the Isle of Mull, one of the Inner Hebrides Islands off the West Coast... more

by Mr Bennett Kent

Title

A beautiful wild Otter shaking like a wet dog on Mull Scotland

Artist

Mr Bennett Kent

Medium

Photograph - Photos,canvas Prints, Photographs

Description

This rare and elusive animal is the European Otter (lutra lutra), seen here on the Isle of Mull, one of the Inner Hebrides Islands off the West Coast of Scotland. After 10 days of searching, I found this male (dog) otter towards the end of my final day on the Island, and what an incredible experience it was! I watched him for about an hour scavenging in the Kelp seaweed for crabs and other tasty morsels. He popped back into the waters of the loch from time to time, only to return and, though a notoriously shy creature, seemed perfectly happy in my company. This beautiful creature was on the verge of extinction in the UK in the mid to late 1900s, but are recovering well, due to legal protection and improvements in water quality. They are still a very elusive creature in the wild though, due to a largely nocturnal living style and their beautiful camouflage against the Kelp seaweed which covers many of the shores they frequent. It was a childhood dream to see one of these and I had travelled from the South east of England to the Scotttish Isles in the hope of coming across one. After one of the times he had been swimming he came out onto the rock in the photograph just as the rain stopped and the sun came out and shook just like a dog after a swim! I could not have asked for a better experience and am so glad to be able to share this very special shot with you :0)

Uploaded

November 7th, 2014