We've had some great otter sightings in the evenings and early mornings recently, although the time of day meant that they've mostly been seen just by staff and volunteers. However at about lunchtime today, the few remaining Black-headed Gulls on the island in front of the visitor centre started to alarm call and began flapping and diving at a patch of grass on the edge of the island. All the visitors in the fairly busy centre dashed to the window and watched as the grass moved and a medium-size Otter trotted out into the open. It quartered the island fairly systematically, ignoring the gulls, who were nowhere near as successful at fighting it off as the Mute Swans had been earlier this week.
Sadly for the Otter (and the Common Tern colony) the island has been almost entirely wiped clean of eggs and chicks by now and it swam off without much of a meal. It's amazing to see an otter so close though, especially in the middle of the day.
Some of Strathbeg's other mammals were showing off today too, with two young buck Roe Deer playing on the pools outside the centre early this morning. Stoats are still around as well, usually spotted running under the cars parked by the office, or heard galloping up and down inside the roof space in the Visitor Centre.
If you're not lucky enough to see Otter when you visit, you can see them on our 'Hidden Strathbeg' videos. There's lots off Otter, Deer, Stoat and Badger film to see on the computer in the visitor centre and you can get sneak peeks of each week's clips on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RSPBNorthEastScotland