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Otterly Charming — Tales from the Riverbank
They say you tend to find the things you were looking for, when you stop looking. Whoever they are…
Living by the River Wensum in Norwich, we regularly spot geese (Egyptian and Barnacle), swans, ducks, cormorants, kingfishers, Gavin the Gull and his mates. But never an otter, until recently…
The rule of the riverbank seems to be that everyone you ever meet will have already spotted what you are striving to see. Ah yes, I often see an otter up by Fye Bridge or Cow Tower, they will say. So off we go in pursuit, and of course, it doesn’t happen.
Still, remaining hopeful eventually pays off. Never give up; never give in. Surely, if you walk by the river every day, you are bound to see an otter eventually. After twelve years of 5 a.m. starts, I am no longer an early riser. This is the time of day when the spotters said they’d seen an otter. But otters are nocturnal creatures, so walks at dusk were about to pay off.
Down by St. Anne’s Quarter, by Lady Julian Bridge, one of the widest parts of the River Wensum, where wherries once turned, we heard a splash and looked over to see a large grey creature. I immediately thought the seal had returned. A seal often comes up the river to the city. But no, on close inspection, this was an otter — at last!