LOWER MOOR SURPRISE

 It's always nice to go somewhere and see something  unexpected and so it was on my visit to Lower Moor Farm this afternoon,

It was another chilly, but sunny day and I had decided to go to the Cotswold water parks for an afternoon walk. I wanted firstly to try out a new footpath  so I went there first. It was a pleasant walk, a path bordered with trees and bushes which follows a route between two of the now developed lakeside holiday homes. After returning to the car, I thought I may as well go a bit further on to Lower Moor Farm nature reserve - it would be quite pleasant to sit in a hide overlooking one of the lakes, without needing to walk too far to reach it. You never know what might turn up,  and I wasn't looking for anything in particular. 

I was the only one there and all was quiet apart from a couple of Canada geese which flew in,  I was then joined by a lady  who I got into conversation with.  I happened to ask her if she'd ever seen the otters which occasionally appear, she said she had once before, but always seemed to miss them as people said 'Oh they were here 15 minutes ago!'  As it was quiet she decided to walk round to the next hide which overlooked a second lake. 

I took a look at the sightings book in the hide and saw that a few days ago, otters had been seen at the back of the lake by a willow. I sat back at the window with my binoculars and looked at that area... within seconds I saw a movement and a splash - an otter! 

It was quite distant but through binoculars I got a clear view of it swimming, then diving  and returning to the surface some 20 seconds later,, occasionally with a fish which it proceeded to devour quite quickly before swimming and diving once more.  I could see the otter gradually moving to the left of my view and realised that it might give a better view in front of the cafe so I  gathered my belongings and walked  the short distance along a grassy pathway and to the cafe which was shut today.   I walked through an open area to the veranda and stood  against the glass panel and looked over the top. In the distance I soon saw the otter. I watched it for nearly half an hour, it would dive for a while and then with a splash would resurface a little distance away before diving again. It did come slightly further into the middle of the lake for a time before then retreating to the back. Then it eventually disappeared possibly getting out onto the bank under the vegetation  where it could then access one of the other lakes.

Just then a couple of people arrived and started to scan the lake with their binoculars. They told me that the otters are now seen fairly regularly and sometimes right up close to the cafe! it didn't seem to make a difference if people are there or not, they  seem unafraid and quite inquisitive. Further visits are definitely required!!

other birds seen on the lake included this female goosander...

... and a grey heron

view from the cafe, The otter was mainly in front of the orange coloured willow though did venture out into the middle of the lake for a short time.