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SUMMER 2003 No. 17
Page 2
SPRING 2003 RESULTS
DORSET OTTER GROUP SPRING 2003 SURVEY RESULTS | ||||
| No. Surveyed | Positive | Negative | % Positive | |
| River Avon | 6 | 1 | 5 | 16.7 |
| River Axe | 6 | 2 | 4 | 33.3 |
| River Frome | 27 | 5 | 22 | 18.5 |
| River Piddle | 16 | 4 | 12 | 25 |
| Poole Harbour | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Upper Stour | 49 | 12 | 37 | 24.5 |
| Lower Stour | 28 | 7 | 21 | 25 |
| West Dorset Rivers | 45 | 12 | 33 | 26.3 |
| River Wey and the Fleet | 10 | 1 | 9 | 10 |
| River Yeo | 6 | 4 | 2 | 66.7 |
| TOTAL | 194 | 48 | 148 | 24.7 |
This time last year 24.7 % of sites were found to be positive, so there does seem to be a steadying of the increase in the otter population in Dorset.
REMEMBER the summer survey is due in at the end of August. The autumn survey runs from the start of September to the end of October with results in at the end of November.
Annual Results
Results this year have remained roughly the same as those collected last year when 26.7 % of all sites were positive. We do indeed seem to be seeing a slow-down in the otter increase in Dorset; this is reflected by the amount of otter kills on the road. Otter deaths shot up from 0 to ~6 in three years, but has since stayed at a figure of roughly six per year.
I sincerely hope that this does not mean a halt in the population increase as the otter has not yet reclaimed all its former haunts in Dorset. Also, to be in line with the national Otter Biodiversity Action Plan 50% of all sites checked should be positive.
Hope for next year comes from the Wey and Fleet catchment as well as around Poole Harbour. Otters seem to be just colonising these areas and if they take off in a similar way that West Dorset did a few years ago we should be in for another jump in the amount of positive results found. I met Caroline Lewis for the first time at Cathie’s and my walk along the Frome. She has been faithfully monitoring the Fleet for five years for otters to no avail, I think if she found signs of otters it may be another case of fainting from excitement (see Nick Tomlinson’s account in the last issue).
One practical point for gaining accurate results in some of these areas is how difficult they are to survey! Only limited patches can be reached on the Fleet, Poole Harbour and other interesting areas such as Littlesea. Sometimes it is only through unexpected tragedy that we discover that otters are there. Unfortunately there has been another otter death in a fyke net (see later) which is disturbing. The death was in Poole Harbour, which is an important eel fishery.
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