How I Photograph Otters
Otters have to be my favourite animal to photograph on the west coast of Scotland. They’re charismatic, curious and locally quite common.
As wildlife photographers, we are all used to sitting still for hours and hours waiting for the action to come to us. I have to admit that I’m not very good at this. I often NEED to be moving. This urge to be on the move and carefully making my way through an area comes down to two factors.
Firstly - I suffer from the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO). With FOMO I’m often left sat wondering “is there an otter around the next corner, in the next bay, I should go and find out”. I think I’ve managed to photograph otters twice while being stationary, all my other experiences of photographing otters have been while on the move.
I say I’m on the move, but I what I actually mean is a snails pace creeping along the shore line. Being careful to not make a sound, stopping to look through binoculars and watching for any subjects in the rocks or fishing in the water. I like it this way, when I’m moving I feel I can get a good idea of a particular otters territory. While I’m walking I’ll stop and look around and assess how “ottery” a place is - is there nice sea weed for the otter to hunt in? A nice shore line to clamber out with? Relatively sheltered? If it meets my ottery criteria (I have no idea if this is the same as an otters ottery criteria) then I’ll bank it in my head to come back to again. I also like to be fairly mobile while photographing otters because they’re super mobile! They can cover large distances quickly and disappear behind rocks without warning, if I’m tied to a hide I can’t quickly reposition myself to carry on enjoying the company of these fantastic creatures.
My second reason for preferring to be on the move is more sinister… Midge! I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Scotland in the summer. But the Scottish biting midge has to be one of the most savage part of existence in the highlands in summer. Thick black clouds of tiny biting insects engulfing you whenever you’re still, covering your skin until all that’s left is a writhing mass of pain and regret. To sit still with the midge is to sit still with the devil himself. When I’m in the woods I’m ok with sitting still with the midge, because I know that if I sit near that badger sett I’ll see a badger hopefully. But I sit on the shore there’s less of a guarantee that I’ll see an otter, and I’ll get bitten to death.
My preferred time of year to photograph otters is autumn through to spring. I’m not sure what it is about summer but I find it hard to go out and take pictures in general. Every thing is so busy breeding and rearing young that I find the opportunities for photography few and far between. This is the same with Otters I have found. The mother is the sole carer for her young and they spend the first few weeks of their lives in holts, so for a period there are very few otters around.
I also prefer photographing in the autumn winter months for better light. The sun is sitting lower in the sky and often offers nice side or back light for photographing animals.
Regardless of all my personal tips for photographing otters, it’s all about being out there, and being happy with just being out there. It’s been AGES since I photographed an otter, and that ok. Most encounters I have with wildlife are very fleeting, but each one last with me for a long time. So I would encourage you to get out there, walk around slowly and see what you can see.
Cheers,
Eddie.
