IOSF Otter Oscars - Special Award Winner 2024, Nigel Burch, has a long history of otter conservation and IOSF are proud to have known him for many years. Keep scrolling to see Nigel's brilliant answers to our questions!

We know you have spent years researching and helping otters on Mull, but why did you choose to help otters in the first place?

In the 1970’s and 80’s I served in the Royal Air Force and travelled to many places in the United Kingdom. Wherever I went I would explore the local area for all things connected with Natural History. One time I visited a wildlife park, which had two Eurasian Otters in a large enclosure. As soon as they saw me, they came running over and as their enclosure was slightly raised, we were on eye level. I dropped my pencil (always taking notes) and when I stooped down to pick it up, they couldn’t see me and proceeded to run back and forth looking for me. When I stood up, they both ‘squealed’ and came running over to me. This was repeated several times and I truly believe that they were enjoying the experience as much as I was. After that I was well and truly hooked on otters. When I found Mull and that so many otters were being killed on the road there, I wanted to try and find out why and could anything be done to reduce this.

What is the best thing about working with otters?

I never tire of seeing otters and even when collecting dead ones, I learn so much when carrying out a survey of the site, about their activities and ecology, but most of all is the feeling of whatever we do to help them - however small, may lead to an otter living to lead a hopefully long and productive life.

What is your favourite, or funniest, memory of otters?

Late one evening I was walking along a remote track near to the shore when I saw the tall grass and Iris’s moving, on the land side of the track towards me. “Got to be an otter” I thought – what do I do? I sat down on the track in a puddle, head down, woolly hat down to my eyes and waited. A female otter came out of the undergrowth, three feet in front of me, heading towards the shore, she didn’t even look at me and walked with that distinctive ottery gait over the track and towards the shore. But wait there was more to come. A tiny cub probably around twelve weeks old stumbled out of the vegetation close on mum’s footstep’s, again not looking left or right – just following mum and then a second cub also made an entrance out onto the track, but this time the cub stopped in front of me, looked at me with those lovely wide eyes that they have at that age, before tumbling after it’s mum and sibling. I just sat there and watched as they made their way to the shore. When out of sight I made my way along the track back to my car, thinking about what I had just witnessed and how I was going to drive home – soaked as I was.

What do you believe is the biggest threat to otters on Mull?

There are so many factors affecting the otter population on Mull that it is difficult to know what is the biggest threat to them. Vehicle traffic continues to take its toll, although recent years have seen a decline in otter’s being reported run over. Tourism can have a negative effect. I am becoming concerned at the number of otters being found emaciated, which appears to be increasing over time. The reasons for this could be many and varied, which is why it is so important to carry on some form of population monitoring. We also need to be thinking about the long-term effects of global warming and changes to sea temperatures, weather events and how these may affect otters in the future.

Mull is obviously one of the most famous places in Scotland to see otters, do you believe that this popularity is of detriment to the populations or do you feel that the populations are stable and thriving?

There has been a huge increase in tourism on the Island and especially wildlife tourism, which often has an effect on individual otter’s behaviour and is present all year nowadays, not only to otters, but also to other species such as nesting birds. Whilst otter numbers appear to be stable in most areas I do not think we can be complacent in thinking that all is well everywhere, for reasons outlined above.

What is your final message to our followers, about otters?

Enjoy the experiences that otters can provide and the pleasure that they bring. But please give them the space and respect that they truly deserve and remember we humans make decisions on what we do and how we behave, the otters – well they then have to adapt to those decisions in order to survive.

Thank you so much Nigel for answering our questions and for your work with otters over the years!

Meet Nigel Burch

Meet Charlie Hamilton James