Just Get Out There

Last Tuesday I couldn't really motivate myself after work to go out. I had around 1000 images from my trip to the Farne Islands to review and Springwatch was on. Then the sun put in an appearance so I jumped in the car and went down to see if the kingfishers were around.

For some reason I decided to sit up above the river rather than in my normal spot down on the bank to try and get a different viewpoint. After about half an hour with only a couple of grey wagtails flitting about something moved in my peripheral vision. When I latched on to it it was disappearing into the undergrowth on the far bank. It didn't look like a duck and I could see it moving towards my viewpoint by the movement of the vegetation. I'd decided it was probably a mink and concentrated on the spot I thought it would emerge. Sure enough it appeared but it wasn't a mink it was an otter, the first I'd ever seen in the wild. It skipped from cover and as I began to take pictures I think it sensed it was being watched. It stopped, stared directly at me and then gracefully entered the river and vanished upstream in a curtain of silvery bubbles.

Magical.

I'm so glad I decided to go out!