A nice sunny day so we were inspired to get over to Boscastle and head up the  (shaded) Valency Valley. Boscastle Harbour is a National Otter Survey site despite the hoards of tourists, however it was difficult to see any spraint on the dark rocks (especially as I had forgotten my binoculars….). Heading back up the river from the Council carpark we found spraint immediately on a large rock beneath an over-hanging beech tree.

 

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Most of the river bank here is very heavily used by ramblers, potterers and (especially) dog walkers. This doesn’t seem to put off the otters and we found plenty of spraint along the river – often on obvious spar stones that litter the banks. The river is very spatey (as we all recall!) so it is one to check after a dry spell but it will repay a revisit in a few weeks with waders and binoculars! We collected 4 good spraints and there were plenty of other older spraints found showing lots of otter activity right down to the village.

 

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Next stop - Rocky Valley!

 

 

Dave Groves