Wildlife in a Suburban Garden

Thanks for visiting my blog which has been active since 2008 and now has around 1950 posts – twice as many as War and Peace!  You might find it interesting to have a look at my aquaponics blog by clicking on the link  EXETER AQUAPONICS   In the meantime please visit my galleries of around  6000 images.  I have photographs of more than 650 species of birds and a gallery of 219 species of Devon birds. There are galleries of butterflies, dragonflies, reptiles and mammals as well.  Charlie Fleming's PBase Galleries.

Here is a video of an Otter that I filmed on the Alphin Brook close to my house, yards from a Lidl store and next to the main road.  In my 9 years of blogging this is probably the most interesting sighting that I have recorded. It shows the otter "sandcastleing" and then marking it's territory with spraint – an excretion from glands under the tail. If you are a member of any conservation charity here in Devon and would like to use the video in a presentation or any other way then please let me know and I will gladly give you a copy. Spraint has a distinct smell and if otters are present, quite easy to find and because of the distinctive and pungent aroma  - but not unpleasant – and this is a certain way to confirm the presence of otters on a waterway.