articles/Nature/ottersmull-page4

Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones - part 4 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Published 01/06/2012

Frequently the otter will see or smell the photographer, and dive, unseen, ending the session. However, the photographer usually remains in the dark until it slowly dawns on them that the otter is absent. "Okay you have been underwater for five minutes now, the game's up, show me where you are."

"Look there is another otter a mile away, come up and have a look - damn that is you; Ok it's your loss I could have made you famous." Needless to say, time spent on your own with otters plays tricks on your mind.

After three years of mediocre results, however, the technique that I had now been teaching everyone suddenly came together, with four main criteria in place:

1. Fantastic light, 06:30am in June.
2. No people around to spook the otter.
3. Launched breathless into a good photographic viewpoint.
4. An otter landing at about seven yards away, with a big crab.

On this occasion, having watched the otter for about 30 minutes, I saw him dive. I ran into what I thought was an ambitious position and attempted to merge into the rocks. Up he came with a big crab and started swimming ashore in my direction. "Wow this good," I thought, and started clicking away, thinking that any moment he would see me and slope off somewhere else. "Bloody hell," I thought he is getting closer but will see me soon and disappear. "Oh my God" he is actually coming ashore in front of me, better keep clicking because he will see me soon and go. "Okay calm down" I thought as he sat down to eat the crab seven yards away, in perfect sunshine. "Okay check the live view to make sure you have not knocked the settings off." Having checked everything was OK I carried on clicking until the otter finished his meal and looked up at me as if to say "I hope you got my good side" and then he went back to catching crabs. Left speechless and with my hands shaking I went back to the car and drove the 30 minutes back to the cottage. I am not prone to emotional outbursts, but I have to say that while I was uploading the photos I might have shed the odd tear. My long-suffering wife, on the other hand, might have described me as a bit of a wreck waiting to see if the pictures were okay. They were and two external hard drives and two USB sticks later, I felt safe enough to gloat, whoop and holler.

• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 1
  
• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 2
  
• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 3
  
• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 4
  
• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 5
  
• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 6
  
• Otters and Sea Eagles The Isle of Mull - Mike Jones page 7
  

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