Fish Island

In the latest quest to get the Ouseburn Otter to 'perform' in front of the cameras, Bob has built himself a fish island. That is, a mini island in the middle of the Ouseburn river to which Bob has pegged a large and rather delicious piece of fish. The idea is that the Ouseburn Otter will pass this island on one of his jaunts down the river and not be able to resist the lure of a free and very large meal. As discussed before, this large and prominent structure in the middle of the river should also prove irresistible to him (the otter not Bob), thus causing him to pose and frolick on said island, right in front of the cameras. I doubt the Ouseburn has ever offered something this good!

So far (one night), all that Fish Island has been able to attract is rats. So, on the learning side of things, who knows the difference between a rat and a watervole? Well, a water vole has small hidden ears while the rat (as seen in the video) has big ears - pretty easy to spot really. Water voles also have blunt noses (as opposed to a rats pointy one) and a shorter, furry tail (i'm sure you've all seen a rat in a petshop which has a long, pink, scaly tail). Less obvious differences include a water vole's fur which is silky and midbrown (a wild rat's is more grey) and on jumping into the water, a watervole makes a distinctive 'plop' sound. Why is this important? Well, water voles have disappeared from almost 90 per cent of the sites they occupied in the UK in the last 60 years, a fact which we can all do something about. Although American mink can largely be blamed for this decline, so can human interference - water voles are commonly mistaken for rats (hence the ID lesson above) and are prosecuted because of this. We have also had a lot to do with the destruction of their habitat and pollution of waterways, not making it easy for those water voles clever enough to outsmart the mink to survive. Lesson over but please try to remember these differences and think before you carry out any kind of 'pest control' near waterways.

The rain has (once again) set in so I think I'm going to have to pull on the old waders and the waterproof coat (once again) and go and rescue my cameras (once again). I can't bear the thought of Bob falling over that prickly, prickly hedge and heading downstream all for the sake of my cameras!

PS I hope that with your (perhaps) newfound knowledge you spotted the picture above is of a watervole and NOT a rat!

The Ouseburn Otter Strikes Again!

The entire week that I have been away (York, since you ask), I have been dreaming of otters - hundreds of otters frolicking in the 'Burn while I captured all of their wonderful antics on camera, thousands of otters blowing fishy kisses at me, millions of otters clambering through Bob's vegetable patch in a decidedly unotter-like fashion. However, the night that I dreamed the Ouseburn Otter had turned into a human being and bit me was the night I finally knew that he/she/it (?!) was getting to me in a way that no fish eating, aquatic mammal should. It was definitely time to bring on the dum dum dum ... Stealth Trail Camera 500. Okay, so I added the 500 for effect but I still think it sounds like a pretty impressive piece of equipment. So my plan hasn't really changed since last week, all I need to do is pick up the Stealth Trail cameras from Rainton Meadows in Durham and film the fur off the Ouseburn Otter. I will be putting this into effect as of tomorrow morning. Today however, I had a rather nice surprise. Bob has been looking after the cameras for me while I have been away, diligently checking the footage every morning and saving anything that could be of interest. Unfortunately, sometime during the week the rain came down with a vengeance, prompting the Environment Agency to issue a flood warning and Bob to lean over a very prickly hedge in a very precarious position and fish the cameras out of the river. Yes, the cameras were saved from suffering the same fate as the Moultrie but the Ouseburn Otter was saved from being captured on film. Again. No worries, despondent after hearing this story, my day soon brightened when I found a real little gem of a clip from last night. I finally have the Ouseburn Otter on film!! No ripples or bow waves while he lurks beneath the water and no spider legs and moth wings to shelter the him from the limelight (Bob has handily placed a can of insect spray in his shed, the hub of the quest for the Ouseburn Otter, and labelled it "only to be used on spiders, moths etc that fancy being film stars"). Brilliant or what?! So yes, the elusive Ouseburn Otter has finally been captured on film, in full view (something which the Stealth Cam should hopefully elaborate on) and the comment most made by those that see him - "Ooooh, isn't that a small one?"

Why badgers are better ...

I have devised a plan to catch the Ouseburn Otter on film - no spider legs or sneaky underwater moves included! I will need 1 x bridge with prominent outcrop that the otter can't resist, 1 x super duper otter seeking infrared camera, 1 x relatively safe (and dry!) spot under said bridge and, most importantly, 1 x unsuspecting Ouseburn Otter. I think this master plan might just work. I have found the bridge with dry spot and prominent outcrop (thanks Bob), the camera is on its way as I type (thanks Cheryl) and the otter is unsuspecting (no thanks to the otter there!). A few days ago myself and Bob (who has the Ouseburn Otter frequenting the bottom of his garden) went on a bridge inspecting frenzy. We came up triumphant. Admittedly this bridge is in the same area that flood waters destroyed the Moultrie but it is far superior. Unless it rains for the biblical 40 days and 40 nights, I am almost certain that my camera will be safe. The 'prominent outcrop' that I keep mentioning is particularly important as it provides an irresistible spot for the Ouseburn Otter to spraint, which it already has on several occassions. For those not in the know, spraint is what we commonly call poo but it is so much more than that! Aside from the usual marking of territory, otter spraint lets other otters know about gender, social status - for example ­if a male is resident in his home range or is just visiting - or if female, whether the otter is ready to mate. In other words, spraint is a really important tool in otter communication and lets other otters know who has been where and how they are doing. Another interesting fact about spraint is that it actually smells quite pleasant! Jasmine tea, mown grass and honey are some of the words used to describe the smell. Anyway, enough about poo!

So yes, the scene is set and the camera will be put in place sometime next week - keep your fingers crossed that the Ouseburn Otter will finally be captured on camera with no water to hide itself and no spiders ruining my shots!

So now I come to why badgers are better. In a nutshell, all this ranting and plan devising above is precisely why I think badgers are better. They stick to the same paths, they squeeze under the same fence nearly every night, a few scattered peanuts and they're yours!! I don't mean to generalise and suggest that all badgers are this easy to win over but this has been my experience so far - much more predicatable than otters! And you would never catch a badger submerging itself in a river and swimming gaily out of sight.

Tragedy has struck!!

In my never ending efforts to capture footage of the otter swimming down the Ouseburn, I set up one of our WildPlaces Moultrie motion activated cameras underneath a bridge on a golf course in Newcastle upon Tyne. The very weekend that I found this brilliant spot, it decided to rain. And rain. And rain. Cue me, on a very early Monday morning, up to my waist in muddy river water trying to rescue the camera. I shouldn't have bothered! The only sign of life was a very determined laser beam shining out of the camera and a final, blurred picture of the water rising over the camera. Muddy river water dripped from every possible crevice. A thorough drying out did no good either. As David, a fellow WildPlaces Officer pointed out "Once the circuit board has been submerged, there's no hope!" So, needless to say, the fast-becoming notorious Ouseburn Otter has evaded me again! My spirits were (briefly) lifted this morning when an otter swam into view of one of my more safely placed cameras on the banks of the Ouseburn. But, as I am fast learning, nothing is ever simple in the world of filming otters! A huge spider leg and a moth obscured the view of the otter playing right in front of the cameras (check this out below). And true to form, at 4am this morning as the otter made his way back home, it cunningly swam under the water, leaving me with only a few ripples and the distinct sound of an otter laughing .....

The photo above (by BBC Tyne) is to give me hope, reminding me of happier times when flooding did not concern me or my cameras and the Ouseburn Otter was captured, albeit under the shadow of a spider, on film. This camera still survives on the banks of the Ouseburn, watching and waiting. RIP Moultrie.

Amazing wildlife is closer than you think ...

We have now been working on WildPlaces for just over 3 months and have filmed some amazing images of wildlife in the North East. I hope you have been checking out the footage that WildPlaces has captured so far on FaceBook , YouTube and Flickr - they are brilliant, if I say so myself!! Seriously though, I promise you will be surprised at the huge variety of wildlife that urban areas in the North East have to offer, from badgers crawling under fences to kingfishers diving for stickleback in the Ouseburn and otters stealing koi carp out of garden ponds - all on the cities doorstep! So far we have captured footage of badger, fox, otter, kingfisher, bats, hedgehog, heron, roe deer and rabbit. While all wild animals are rather shy and not always easy to film, I have had particular trouble catching notoriously elusive otters on film. Nevertheless, we are getting some great footage but can always do with your help. If you think that you can do better and have some great pictures or films of wildlife that you would like to share then please get in touch (http://www.urbanwildplaces.co.uk to find out more), we need to share the wonders of North East wildlife with everyone!

I have included a few clips of the footage so far and am looking forward to all your comments and fabulous photos!