F.A.O. B.O.B ... the naturalist

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SG7nil

Pedantic Fact Hunting Radge Grandad
Private Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2007
Was headed out for a few drinks on Friday night and walked over the bridge at Bernard St..

Noticed a commotion on the surface of the water and looked more closely (P.S. I was stone cold sober.. this being BEFORE I had a wee refreshment:Elephant: ).. and saw an Otter ... diving up and down on the water of Leith.. A few of us stood and watched it for about 5 minutes before it dissapeared under the bridge. Was quite a big thing, must've been about three feet long.

I though the water was too polluted to support anything that large! There must be decent sized fish in there or it'd starve.

Anyone else seen these creatures in the city???
 
I'm no naturalist, but......


I doubt that bit of the water of Leith could support an otter. It is not tidal and pretty stagnant. You can see methane bubbles come up in warm weather.

So unless the chef from Giulianos :dali: that feeds the swans also feeds the otter I wouldn't think it lives there.

The otter could easily have climbed over the low floating barrier that separates the river from the sea, had a splash around, then went back to sea where it could catch more food.

I could, of course, be wrong :surp@

I'm sure BOB, or someone else better informed, will have a better idea :detective:
 
Wow!



On the subject of fish, I always thought the canal looked manky, but a few months ago there was a day when the water was almost clear and you could see right to the bottom. There were LOADS of fish! Mainly small (6 - 8 inches), but also lots of medium sized ones. Saw someone catching a very large pike at the Fountainbridge end last year, too.
 
There was a story last year (maybe a bit longer than that?) about the fact that otters were now established out past Murrayfield on the Water Of Leith so might well be the case that it's either the same one/s that's moved down or they've bred and their offspring are heading down towards the holy ground and away from Gorgie as they're more adventurous and cool than the parents.

Either way, I want to see an otter in The Water Of Leith. And it has been seriously cleaned up over the last couple of decades.
 
Did a wee bit of research after I posted and found that they're not as rare as you might think.. plenty of sightings (although mostly in quieter bits of the river).

Also some Mink in the WoL too, apparently a group of about five of them have been seen out hunting together in the Stockbridge area.. which is apparently bad news for the birds that live near the river as the mink are notorious egg stealers.
 
i went for an indian last night
i got a tarka, its like a tikka, but a little otter:lookaround:
 
You find all sorts in rivers nowadays. We've got a whale through here just now fannying about in the Clyde at the Squinty Bridge near the SECC.

Maybe he thinks Fish is playing a gig tonight.
 
Hampden_Hibby said:
You find all sorts in rivers nowadays. We've got a whale through here just now fannying about in the Clyde at the Squinty Bridge near the SECC.

Maybe he thinks Fish is playing a gig tonight.
Click to expand...

vera lynns doin the rounds again:coffee:
 
B.O.B., Otter have bought that dress by now, the big "minks" better be "shrew"ed, or he won`t be seeing any "beaver" for a while.

Or getting his Nat King "vole", even. :coffee:
 
There have been numerous sightings of otters in the water of leith.

We really otter give with the fish puns. I've haddock them up to here. Cod we move on to some over plaice. maybe a topic with more sole.
 
MacoHibeeexile said:
There have been numerous sightings of otters in the water of leith.

We really otter give with the fish puns. I've haddock them up to here. Cod we move on to some over plaice. maybe a topic with more sole.
Click to expand...

lesmahagow:read:
 
I spotted an otter in the Water of Leith about halfway between Roseburn and Dean Village a few years back.

I would imagine that the stretch between Junction Bridge and the Shore would be able to sustain an otter. The mud and silt built up over several years would probably ensure a fair variety of fish and eels live there. I don't know whether the outflow allows any fish to enter the river system from the sea but even without that there is probably ample food.

One of the side effects of de-industrialisation is that serious polluters have reduced and other than agricultural run off, there isn't much left to poison the water and wildlife.

PQ123
 
Sorry chaps, been on around the world otter spotting trip.

Didnae see a thing :pullhair:


So, what's been happening here? :102:

:giggle:


Aye, Stu, it will have been an otter, as you have been informed. I thought it was a bit weird when Dub informed me of this thread and told me it was about beavers :gaga: He hasn't been near any kind of beaver for years :rascal:
 
Bill Oddies Beard said:
Sorry chaps, been on around the world otter spotting trip.

Didnae see a thing :pullhair:


So, what's been happening here? :102:

:giggle:


Aye, Stu, it will have been an otter, as you have been informed. I thought it was a bit weird when Dub informed me of this thread and told me it was about beavers :gaga: He hasn't been near any kind of beaver for years :rascal:
Click to expand...

Poor Dub, it`s been so long, he`d lick oot an otter, and think he`d scored.

And pay for it. :sad

What aboot "Feeding The Birdies" Bri?

Was that a year already? FFS?

BTW, One is still feeding them. :wink:
 
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