Walkers find body of otter on outskirts of city

Stirling walkers spotted the sad sight of a lifeless otter on a verge of the A811 on the outskirts of the city last week.

The body had been lying at the side of the main road near the junction for Falleninch Farm.

The shy and elusive mammals are known to inhabit the Forth and its tributaries – and have been spotted in the river at Riverside.

The reader who discovered the animal said: “I was out for a walk with my wife when we saw the body lying near the side of the road.

“There was no sign of any injury. It looked like it could’ve been hit by a car.

“It wasn’t very big so we’re guessing it was a young animal.

“We know of sightings of otters in the Forth in the city – at the old harbour and by Lovers Walk in Riverside.

“We thought this location was quite a long way from water to find an otter.”

Stirling wildlife writer, and former Observer editor, Jim Crumley, said this week: “Otters are well distributed through the Forth river system, both in the main river and its tributaries.

“Dawns and dusks are the best time to see them around Stirling itself and I have seen them on the Bannock Burn.

“The Teith and the Leny are good locations for otters, and they also appear east of the city in Clackmannanshire.”

Jim agreed that the Falleninch location was an unusual one to find an otter.

He said: “otters often cross watersheds and make other overland journeys. They can be land weasels when they need to be.

“But it’s hard to imagine why one would end up at Falleninch.

“Two possible explanations spring to mind: one is that it was the victim of a territorial dispute on the Forth and driven out of the water.

“The other is that it was illegally killed somewhere else by people and dumped. It happens. If it was lying on the road it could have been hit any number of times by vehicles and so would look like road kill.”