BSc Land Management students had an opportunity to do
something a little different this week – to build a home (or holt) for
Leicesteshire’s threatened otters. Staff member James has built several of
these over the years and has the hexagonal, chambered and thatched design down
to a fine art!
The mystery location of the holt was a river west of Corby
that has received funding from the Environment Agency (EA) to restore the river
system. As well as new fencing, cattle drinkers, flow deflectors and bank stabilisation
areas an otter holt was also on the list, and this is where our group of
students working with the EA and Ecology Link Ltd led by Lewis, David, Jarvis
and Amber bravely stepped up.
Of course, otters do not dig their own burrows and are hard
pushed to find suitable areas to hide when river corridors have been
channelised and improved so much. So what better way to help them occupy this
area than by building them their own ‘des-res’?! As you can see from the
pictures the holt is half finished, so check back to the blog next week to see
the finished masterpiece! Trailcam’s will also be set up to monitor occupancy.
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