Event promises a real home from home for otters (From Knutsford Guardian)

Event promises a real home from home for otters

3:30pm Tuesday 23rd February 2010

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KNUTSFORD farmers will be learning how to build homes for otters next month thanks to a training event being organised by Cheshire Wildlife Trust and the British Association for Shooting and Conservation.

The event, which is being funded by Chester Zoo and Shell UK, will educate land managers and farmers on otter ecology and how to build artificial otter holts on their land.

Richard Gardner, Cheshire Wildlife Trust’s living landscape manager, said: “The event will not only train land managers about otters and their habitat requirements but will also give them the opportunity to get hands-on and construct two artificial otter holts on land near Chester.

“The new homes for otters will give the population a boost as natural areas for otters along the Gowy river bank are few and far between.”

Preliminary findings from the 5th National Otter Survey, coordinated by the Environment Agency, suggest otters have a presence on the River Gowy, with signs of their territory-marking at the river’s bridges.

Road casualties and pesticides are among a long list of factors that have contributed to the otters’ demise over the years, and although Cheshire has a wealth of waterways, the otter population is still lower than would be expected.

The species is currently listed in the International Union for the Conservation of Natures' (IUCN) Red Book as ‘vulnerable to extinction’.

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