A wildlife enthusiast in Wales was shocked to see an otter frolicking in her garden pond. Kerry Irwin-Hall, who lives in Llandysul, Ceredigon, was checking her pond before heading out for a run when she spotted the playful animal.
“As I got closer, I saw its tail and, honestly, I nearly needed a Tena lady!” she jokes.
Since Irwin-Hall moved to the area two years ago, she has spent lots of time making her garden as wildlife friendly as possible and clearing the pond. Now, “it's full of frogs, newts, toads and bugs of all sorts,” she says.
That’s not all. In Spring, she had started noticing a pair of wild mallard ducks taking to the pond. “I hoped they might make a nest, so had taken to creeping out at dawn and checking,” she says.
Early one Saturday morning, she snuck out to check the pond when she saw something moving in the water – and it wasn’t a duck.
Irwin-Hall had wondered if there were otters in the pond before. “Last winter we had a bit of snow and it froze a few times,” she says. “I was by the pond and thought I could see footprints of an otter.” Her partner thought that was just wishful thinking.
But she was right. Here was an otter right in front of her eyes. “I don't know how I contained myself from shrieking with joy,” she says. “It was utterly magical just watching it dive up and down, and munch on what I can only think was frogs or newts, as we have no fish in there.”
Although she hasn’t seen the otter again, Irwin-Hall hopes the cute creature has stuck around. She’s now set up a camera on the pond in the hope of spotting it again.
Even if she doesn’t have another lucky sighting, “it's probably made my year!” she says.
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