River Deerness otters 'sign of a resilient ecosystem'
"Being apex predators they need a good food supply - that's the reason they're there," he said. "Everything from plants through to insects and fish need to be there to be sufficient food for the otter."
'Good news'
As well as being a sign of a strong ecosystem, otters also increase biodiversity by eating fish, which feed on insect larvae, allowing insects such as dragonflies to develop.Mr Rutland said it was hard to know how many otters lived there because their territories often covered 12 to 18 miles (19.3 to 28.9km) of a riverbank."It could be just one or two otters or a family that cover the whole river and with a really healthy river you could have more than that," he said. "But we'll take the good news and enjoy it."
Despite the positive signs of wildlife, The rivers trust estimates only about 15% of rivers in England are ecologically healthy.The River Deerness was last tested by the Environment Agency in 2019 and was given a poor rating for its ecological quality."There's a long way to go yet to be able to say that any water course is healthy," Mr Rutland said. "But nature is resilient and we just celebrate every sign that there's life and there's recovery."
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