Chatting with two farmers I learned that, like me, the river had become a magnet for people who wanted to escape the four walls they had been cooped up in for weeks before.

Sadly and most annoyingly, not everyone seemed to have been out to enjoy nature, wildlife or the freedom the outdoors provide. Whilst enjoying themselves they forgot  to respect their surroundings and perhaps unwittingly, are disturbing wildlife and other  people who simply enjoy what visiting the river has to naturally offer.

The farmers described how people had driven their cars into private fields of livestock, right on to the riverbanks; had picnics; barbeques and swimming where neither are allowed; dogs running free; left litter and smashed bottles into the river and blocked gates with their vehicles. Worst of all, which showed total disrespect, estate staff were threatened and an angler had objects thrown at him, when they tried to inform those people of their wrongdoings. Hardly surprising that wildlife, particularly the Otters and Kingfishers, moved away from those areas.

Avoiding times of likely human activity, I persevered and even visited new locations that I hoped would be somewhat more peaceful. Early one morning, at the spot where I’d seen swans before (see my previous blog); I sat watching a swan family swimming upstream near to the far bank. They left the water in single file and on reaching the top of the bank; they sat and began munching on the grass.

Mike, my fellow Otter enthusiast, with whom I share surveying and monitoring of river locations, had found a new location on the River Usk where he’d spotted an Otter on his first two visits. Obtaining permission from the landowner, we met one morning, at social distance and watched the river some 200 metres apart. An hour or so later, Mike alerted me to a sighting, but by the time I reached his spot a female and her pup had vanished, but not before Mike took photographic evidence.