Rudi the Otter appearing on BBC TV Natural World

Our hand-reared otter Rudi appeared on the BBC TV series 'Natural World' this week, in an episode entitled 'Supercharged Otters' presented by Charlie Hamilton James, pictured above.

The footage was recorded in a studio where they had constructed a tank with glass sides. They filmed Rudi underwater so they could observe exactly how otters swim by slowing down the film. The accedemically ground-breaking sequence towards the end of the documentary showed how otters smell underwater by making an air-bubble and then re-imbibing it. Fascinating.

The first time Charlie Hamilton-James saw an otter was when we took our very tame Asian short-clawed otter Bee to his primary school about 33 years ago. He said he has been 'an otter fanatic' ever since.

Rudi appears swimming underwater in the opening sequence and with Charlie in later scenes that can be watched in the UK on BBC iplayer by clicking here

or on Youtube here:

Line drawings of the otters are by Sophie Neville and feature in 'Ride the Wings of Morning'
They are sold in aid of The Waterberg Trust as limited edition prints. Please click here for contact details.

The UK Wild Otter Trust

I have been invited to become a Patron of the UK Wild Otter Trust - a huge honour.

The trust was set up to help raise awareness of British otters by providing talks at clubs and schools. It exists to help ongoing otter projects and groups that encourage otters in the wild. The trust is run by a really active team. You can read about them here.

The trust works hard to protect the habitat of the otter and is currently monitoring otter populations in North Devon. It work with anglers, fishery owners and organisations throughout the UK to ensure otter predation and behaviour is well understood. This has been well received and is vital to the conservation of this native species. To read more about the aims of the trust please click here.

 What can I do to support the Trust?

There are all sorts of things you can do. Click here for the UK Wild Otter Trust website and see how you can help secure the future of this special creature, which is still under threat. It would be hugely helpful if you simply told others about the trust and pointed them to the website.

If you would like to make a donation to the Trust, please click here.

Royal Photographer Arthur Edwards is in the News again

HRH Prince of Wales meeting author Sophie Neville and her otter. 
Photograph (c) Daily Telegraph - 28th July 2001

Back in 2001, I was introduced to the HRH Prince of Wales when we chatted about otter conservation. A number of photographers buzzed around us including royal photographer Arthur Edwards, then working for The Sun.

He can be seen holding his camera, standing behind us in the centre of the picture. In this instance he missed taking the shots that ended up on the front page of the Daily Telegraph - along with his own image.

Arthur Edwards was on the lunchtime News today, having his head painted purple by Prince Harry who took the opportunity to do so when invited to make hand-prints on his tour of New Zealand. I am not sure why Arthur Edwards was so deserving of the honour but his face was a picture.