The Ever Elusive Lutra Lutra....

Otters use Nelson Wern!

There are Otters in Nelson Wen Park, it is not known if they are breeding, they might just hide out during the day or come to the Park to feed on frogs. Whatever the reason, this is Britain’s largest predator; even so you are extremely unlikely to see one, as they are mostly nocturnal.

On the 2nd July 2007, before I was even born, Cardiff University Students came  to in Nelson Wern to work on a project to build a home for the Otters, or a holt. John Bell from Keep Wales Tidy and Dave Beveridge from CCBC Parks Services had found evidence that otters are using the site and had found a suitable place to build a holt. Sturdy branches are placed on top of a wood structure as a roof, leaving two entrances for the otters. There is no guarantee that otters will ever use the holt, but if they don’t, something else will. They make very good habitat piles and are sources of food for many birds, such as Thrushes and Wrens, providing nesting sites for them too. The materials come from an area to be cleared as a forest glade, so were growing on site. Where the trees were cut the sunlight can now reach the forest floor. This will allow plants to bloom, where the dense canopy had suppressed them.  I love nature and enjoy exploring all the wildlife in my little village! Whenever I go for walks with Mum I always look out for our Otter friends, they have been seen in the big lake having a swim but you have to be quick because as soon as they hear my Puggy paws along the Lake Boardwalk they run and hide!