A new family of otters has taken up residence on the outskirts of Newport.
Created by chainsaw artist Chris Wood, the otter and her two kits have been installed alongside Percoed Reen and next to Percoed Meadow, an area managed for wildlife by Newport City Council, near Duffryn.
Otters regularly use the network of reens and ditches to move around the Levels and can travel over 20km or more in search of food. They mainly eat a diet of fish, including eels, but also take frogs, crayfish and occasionally water birds, such as coots or moorhens. Areas of marshy grassland, like Percoed Meadow, are often used for foraging and the denser areas of scrub may be used by adults to rest during the day.
Although otters are mainly active at night and only rarely seen during the day, look out for signs and tracks that show they are around. Footprints are sometimes left in soft mud and their droppings, or spraints, are often deposited prominently on rocks or logs, as a territorial sign to other otters. They contain fish bones, shells, feathers or fur, and have a sweet fishy smell.
Nationally, numbers of otters are recovering following a severe crash in the 1970s due to the use of organo-chlorine pesticides, which have now been banned, and habitat loss. We’d be interested to hear if you have any otter sightings.
Location: Percoed Meadow
Sculptor Chris Wood and the otter family