A decade of spraint sniffing

Dorset Otter Group celebrate their 10th Anniversary and remember one of their first members, Peter Irvine.

Following the catastrophic crash of otter numbers in the late 1950’s due to poisoning by organochlorines, very few otters indeed were being reported in the county by the 1970’s (see map of all records between 1970 and 1975 which shows the desperate state of the population). A few otters had been released on the Stour in the 80’s, but by the mid 1990’s we really had no idea about the status of one the most important and charismatic mammals in Dorset.

Hampshire, Somerset and Devon all had volunteers on the lookout for otters, and in 1997, Dorset Wildlife Trust decided to fill the Dorset gap in this recording network by setting up Dorset Otter Group (DOG). John Stobart (now with Natural England) became the first Rivers and Wetlands Officer, and supporting DOG by training new spotters and co-ordinating record collection has been part of this role ever since.

John designed the simple spot check methodology, still in use today, which records presence or absence of otter. Bronwen Bruce took over in 1999 and then I started at DWT in 2004. Over the last 10 years, it is estimated that we have trained over 500 volunteers in otter spotting techniques, namely spraint (droppings) and track identification. Otter poo is incredibly distinctive. Once you have seen the mass of tiny fish bones, greyish in the splodge of poo, and smelt the hay/jasmine tea/fish flakes smell – you are hooked. You never look at a rock or a fallen tree the same ever again. There are around 80 registered surveyors sending records in 4 times per year at any one time from 250 sites across the county, and about a third of spotters have been lucky enough to see a live animal in the wild. DOG has provided the county with a 10 year continuous dataset shared with Dorset Environmental Records Centre, which enables the Environment Agency (EA), planners, developers etc to make informed decisions and to assess whether we are reaching our Biodiversity Action Plan targets. John Stobart describes the otter as “the most accurately monitored mammalian species in Dorset”. This is particularly amazing when you consider how elusive the animal is. The continued monitoring of otter into the future will hopefully mean that any event similar to that seen in the 1950’s could be avoided.

DOG has been extremely fortunate to have attracted a group of exceptional volunteers, with many of the original members still very active in the group. A key member was Peter Irvine, who sadly died in May this year. Peter attended the first DOG training workshop and immediately took on the responsibility of the group’s newsletter. Peter developed this publication into ‘The Holt’, and even developed his own cartoon otter alter-ego, ‘Potter’. DOG members were saddened to hear of his death and miss his enthusiasm, knowledge and passion.

If we look at the distribution map from 2005, we can see that otters are now found in virtually every catchment in Dorset. Extensive research into Parish Records carried out by Peter Irvine leading to the publication of ‘Dorset Otter Records (1700-1999)’ has provided us with a benchmark for healthy populations. From this, we know that in the past otters were found even in coastal areas such as Chapman’s Pool on Purbeck, as compared with the pretty scant populations in areas such as the Wey and the Fleet we report today. So there is still scope for further expansion of otter territories. In fact, in 2007 an otter was sighted in Swanage for the first time in many, many years.

The group has been financially supported by Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water, Wessex Water and principally by the EA, who have all been interested in otters because of their position as a top predator in aquatic systems and therefore an excellent indicator of water quality. However, due to ever increasing competition for monies, DEFRA cuts and due to the very success of this mammal’s recovery making otters less attractive to funders, the Otter Group currently has to look for new sources of money.

In addition to the extensive record collection, DOG members have built artificial otter holts, publicised otters through displays at shows and river walks, worked with EA regarding combating problems of fisheries predation, and reducing otter road deaths (if you see a dead otter please let us know asap).

More details about DOG can be found at www.dorsetottergroup.org.uk. Membership of the group is free, but there is a charge for training and events. We are always interested in otter sightings, please call DWT and leave your name, when and where you saw the otter and an OS Grid Reference if possible.