An otter in the High Street. What a great summer for wildlife!

THE old jokes are definitely the best. Here’s one of my favourites:

In the curry house. “I’ll have a chicken tarka.” “What’s that?” “It’s like a chicken tikka only otter!”

Yes, it’s a groan a minute in the Riddle household!

Brought to mind, of course, by the adorable CCTV footage of an otter making its late-night way along the High Street, and apparently doing a bit of window-shopping en route.

Well done to the sharp-eyed volunteer camera operator who spotted that!

Presumably it’s the peace of lockdown in the city centre that’s emboldened the otter to venture so far into the built-up area.

I’ve only seen one live otter before, in the river in Harnham. A very brief glimpse, before it disappeared underwater.

Journal readers may remember I found one run over on the side of the Netherhampton Road a few years ago, probably after it had gone prospecting for fish in someone’s garden pond.

I’ve also seen another dead one, in the Winterbourne Valley.

 I’m very jealous of a neighbour who’s spotted an adult swimming with cubs in our area.

But I do have to report a marked decrease in the number of ducks and moorhens, and a complete absence of coot along our stretch of the Nadder these days.

Foxes can’t be helping in that respect. It’s not always easy for to sit back and watch Nature Red in Tooth and Claw playing out before our eyes without wanting to interfere.

But we must. Particularly since all these creatures are simply trying to make a living in a man-made landscape.

The wildlife in our garden has been a joy as we’ve hunkered down here during the pandemic. 

With two feeding stations on the go, we’ve had the privilege of watching great spotted woodpeckers feeding their baby on our shed roof. 

Starlings, absent for a number of years, have made a comeback, breeding in a hole at the front of the house whether the fascia board fell off, and I love to hear their twittering. We've been spying from afar on the spire's thriving peregrine family.

As I speak, a squadron of sparrows are flying back and forth between the ivy and the shed, trying to hurry up the squirrel that’s attached itself to the nut feeder and is performing the most extraordinary contortions trying not to fall off!

We’ve even spotted a grass snake slithering into a flower bed, and that’s because we’ve let the lawn run wild this year and just mown a path around the edge.

This enforced period of idleness has done me a big favour, as I’ve discovered the benefit of spending some time just sitting and watching the world go by. Note to self: Never get too busy again!