Following the trail of Yorkshire's shy otters

It is a hot summer's day and the sun is baking the exposed mud around the fringes of a marshy lagoon in East Yorkshire. The conditions are perfect for finding otter tracks.

More than most people, Richard Hampshire knows what to look for. Eight years ago he made a special study of otters on the River Hull, which carries chalk streams from the Wolds down to the Humber. He made plaster casts of some of the many footprints he found, and these days he is warden of Yorkshire Water's Tophill Low Nature Reserve along part of the river between Driffield and Beverley.

On this hot afternoon a water vole sits among the rushes at the edge of the lagoon, about 20 yards away, munching on a large green stalk and seemingly unconcerned by our presence. But an otter bitch and two cubs, which have often been spotted frolicking here in recent weeks, are nowhere to be seen.

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There are, however, some footprints in the caked mud. They are scuffed and trampled over by other prints, but Richard identifies them as otter tracks. They don't often leave a clean set of footprints, especially when playful young otters are present, but their size marks them out from other mammals.

The slightly larger hind footprint is about 6cm wide and around 8cm or 9cm long, and usually four of the five toes are evident.

The tracks left by the American mink which prey on many native mammals are more than half the size of an otter's, while the water vole's prints are half as small again. And to Richard's expert eye, they are also quite a different shape.

On one side of the lagoon is a noticeable mound which appears to be part of the embankment. But it is, in fact, the site of an artificial otter holt, a sort of designer bolt-hole constructed with help from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Natural England and volunteers at the reserve.

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Made from timber, the holt contains a series of chambers. It has been covered with earth, and now overgrown with grasses and shrubs it looks a natural part of the scene. Hidden from view are two holes which allow the otters easy access to both land and water.

Tophill Low's otter family may be asleep inside the holt, or they may be somewhere else, perhaps safely ensconced in what Richard calls a "lie-up" hole, a temporary safe shelter used for just a few hours after feeding.

Sometimes, Richard unexpectedly comes across an otter in the lagoon or river. "It's always worth keeping an eye out for them here," he says. "You can see them swimming beneath the surface. They can stay down for more than three minutes but when they are swimming they don't make much of a ripple. Instead, they give themselves away by making it look as if there's a steam train underwater. Their progress through the river is marked by all these puffs of bubbles rising to the surface.

"This is because they shake their fur to aerate it before they dive into the water. This gives them some kind of buoyancy, I think, but the air escapes as they swim. It's a wonderful sight."

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To look for other otter signs, Richard moves across to the bank of the River Hull. Unlike other Yorkshire rivers like the Derwent and the Esk, which were the subject of otter release programmes in the early 1990s, the Hull still hosts the descendants of its natural population.

A couple of months ago two otters were found dead in illegal nets left by fishermen at High Eske Nature Reserve, on the north side of Beverley. It was a reminder that otters are still vulnerable to their only predator – humans.

However, they have expanded their range through the network of field drains serving the Holderness plain. One was accidentally run down by a tractor at Fraisthorpe, near Bridlington, proving just how far they have spread. Others have been seen opposite Hull's The Deep visitor attraction, where the river meets the Humber.

"When individual otters are found so far away from here," says Richard, "it could mean that they have been unable to find their own territories on the river and been pushed out. It suggests the river has a healthy population."

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Along the banks of the Hull, Richard looks for classic otter signs that are invisible to most people. One of them is the presence of otter spraints – droppings left at strategic landmarks such as prominent rocks, channels used for entering and leaving the water, or outside exposed tree roots they might use as a lie-up hole.

They are left to mark out their territory and to warn itinerant otters that this part of the river is already taken.

Sometimes, says Richard, they have the appearance of white cigar ash since they contain numerous fish scales. However, most spraints are black-coloured and have a tar-like consistency. They smell of fish but sometimes give off a scent not unlike lavender.

Richard comes to a point on the banks of the Hull where it intercepts the backbone of a long agricultural water system called the Beverley and Barmston Drain. Otters move between the river and drain in search of fish, and they use what Richard calls an "otter highway".

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He points out a barely discernible line through the tall grass.

"The giveaway," says Richard, "is that it looks greener than the grass around it. That's because the otters leave their marking spraints along these paths so often that the grass is fertilised and consequently lusher than the surrounding riverbank."

In this bright sun, the otters are clearly resting out of sight, but their marks are unmistakable.

The best times for seeing them are dawn or dusk, and the hide at Tophill Low's North Marsh has become one of the best places for seeing otters in

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Yorkshire. Richard has held some Otter Watch events at the reserve this year and hopes to run more in the future. "Recognising the tracks and signs of otters on the ground is one thing," he says, "but seeing your very first wild otter is something you never forget."

n Top Hill Low is signposted off the A164 Beverley to Driffield Road, just south of Watton. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays, open Bank Holiday Mondays, 9am-6pm (4pm in winter). Day pass 2.50 adults, 1 concessions.

For future Otter Watch events see: www. hullvalleywildlife

group.co.uk and www. tophilllow.blogspot.com