On the otter trail

9:51am Sunday 30th July 2006

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CONSERVATIONISTS on Exmoor are being trained to keep track of otters, one of Britain's most elusive animals.

A training day was set up for volunteers from the Exmoor Conservation Volunteers Partnership and staff from Exmoor National Park Authority, who learned about otter ecology and the art of surveying the endangered species.

Authority conservation assistant Jeremy Sabel said: "Otter numbers have increased steadily since being on the brink of extinction in the 1970s and this course was arranged to get volunteers trained to enable them to perform surveys on a regular basis.

"Having more trained surveyors means we will gain a more complete picture of the otter population on Exmoor.

"I'm thrilled that as a result of the training day there will be a much wider coverage of Exmoor's watercourses and we will be able to gather more data for this charismatic species."

He said otters are elusive, being solitary, aquatic, nocturnal and having large home ranges.

The results of the surveys will be submitted to Somerset Environmental Records Centre and Devon Biodiversity Records Centre.