What does an otter holt look like?
Even if you know exactly where to look an Otter holt is easy to miss. The holt doesn’t even have to be right next to the water, it can be a short distance away. Usually the entrances are above the water but Otters will use entrances below the water. An Otter will usually use a feature that already exists such as a fallen tree or under boulders. The female will often leave the main river channel within her territory to a holt in one of the smaller tributaries. There’s a couple of reasons they could do this but the most likely is to avoid male Otters when the female has small cubs. When we build artificial holts they are usually a small cluster of chambers (total 2m square) and at least two tunnels. The entrance of these tunnels should be higher than the highest water likely to be encountered. Whilst at least one entrance should be close to the water, they don’t all have to.
