BIG BROWN BEASTIE, BIG BROWN FACEThose of you who are (like me) of a great age and a slightly hippy persuasion might recognise the title of this peace as a lyric from a Mike Oldfield single from back in the days when singles were a thing and Mike Oldfield was a household name. Youngsters, just ignore the reference and keep reading.Oldfield was singing about being On Horseback, but it's a rather different and much rarer big brown beastie with a big brown face that has been spotted on the Old Moor reserve recently.Our Bitterns are known for their elusive nature. Our Bearded Tits are perhaps even better at the hide and seek game. I've been standing literally next to them while they pinged loudly at each other and been completely unable to see them until they flew off in a little flock of golden brown golf balls. But there's a creature currently moving around the reed beds that has been seen even fewer times than those fan favourites.I'm talking about OTTERS. Two of them, probably a mother and teenager son.Now hang on a minute. Don't expect to just turn up at the reserve and get me or the other volunteers to point them out to you. “Yes mate, third reed on the right, wait twenty minutes. There's an otter due at half past.” Sorry, it's not going to happen.It's not that we don't want to – we'd love to have them on our RECENT SIGHTINGS board – but the truth is that even our wardens have only seen them on camera traps, and then at stupid o'clock in the morning when all good birders are tucked up in their beds. So please, don't come down and expect to get professional-level otter sightings within five minutes. I can't state this strongly enough...You. Will. Not. See. Them.You won't. Seriously. Don't even try.So why am I even telling you that they're here? What's the point of going public with this information when most people (including me and the other Old Moor volunteers) have almost no chance of actually seeing an otter on the reserve?Well for a start, otters are an excellent sign of clean water and an ecosystem that's functioning as it should. We should celebrate the fact that we have this indicator species telling us – by its presence – how good our ecosystem is. A male otter will hold a territory of over ten kilometres, and needs a plentiful supply of food along that stretch of water. They also prefer to use smaller water channels and reedbeds away from bigger rivers, which is exactly what we have in the Dearne Valley. In short, we're doing good.Will they decimate the birdlife at the reserve? That's a valid fear, especially at a site where the birds are the prime attraction. It's certainly a possibility that they'll take some young waterfowl but an otter's diet is mostly fish. They have a particular taste for eels, and we have an abundance of those on the reserve, eels being a large part of the Bitterns' menu too. I think that, should they decide to make our reserve their home, the overall picture will be a good one.And of course even if we didn't want the otters here (we do!), it would be completely illegal for us or anyone else to take action against them. Otters are fully protected under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, or to put it in terms even a layman like me can understand, it is illegal to capture, kill, disturb or injure an otter, regardless of circumstance, or to disturb or destroy its habitat. Most of that is self-evident but I'd like to point out the word “disturb”. That means we cannot tromp around the reedbeds looking for them, or trying to get the best photos. As with all wildlife, be patient and let them come to you. It's the only way. And maybe, just maybe, a time will come when we might actually be able to say, “Plonk yourself down in this hide here and be patient. And you may get very, very lucky”. If I did emojis I'd insert the one with the crossed fingers here.So we have Otters here at Old Moor. Long may they stay. I've made it all the way to the end of this blog but I'm sorry, I've just got to say it... knowing that these creatures are right here on my doorstep is otterly brilliant!