If you have seen an otter recently, or signs of their presence, the National Parks and Wildlife Service want to know about it.
The NPWS is launching a new National Otter Survey to collect otter records from right across the country. The new survey will map otters and compare results to the last survey, carried out in 2010-11.
Members of the public are asked to keep their eyes peeled for otters and to get involved in this national survey by adding their sightings to the survey results. NPWS teams, which have teamed up with researchers in Queen’s University Belfast and the National Biodiversity Data Centre, will be looking for characteristic signs of otters at over 900 sites throughout the country, including rivers, lakes and the coast.
Otters are mostly active at night and most typically seen at dawn or dusk. They may be spotted from bridges swimming in rivers or along the rocky seashore.
Read more: Major new study records almost 200 sightings of otters at Dublin's rivers
Otters are brown, about 80cm (30 inches) long and can be seen gliding along the water surface before diving to show their distinctive long pointed tail which is almost as long again as their body.
Otters and their habitat are protected under the EU Habitats Directive which requires that Ireland reports on the status of the species every six years. While the otter suffered significant declines across the UK and much of continental Europe during the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s, it remained widespread in Ireland.
The most recent Irish survey (2010-2011) found signs of otter from all counties of Ireland and from sea-shore to mountain streams. The otter hunts in water, but spends much of its time on land, and as a result is vulnerable to river corridor management such as culverting, dredging and the clearance of bankside vegetation, as well as pollution, pesticides, oil spillages, coastal developments and road traffic.
Members of the public can learn more about otters and submit recordings of otter sightings at the National Biodiversity Data Centre’s dedicated webpage here.
The final report on how the otter is faring will be published in 2025.
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