Winterwatch episode 1 2020: It’s dark, it’s cold, it’s the end of January – but fear not, Winterwatch is back to add seasonal warmth and cheer. Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan, Gillian Burke and Iolo Williams host, live from the Cairngorms.
The cameras are poised to capture pine martens, red squirrels, golden eagles and crested tits. This wild winter wilderness is home to rare cold-adapted species, but as the climate changes they are especially sensitive to warming temperatures. This makes them and the Cairngorm Mountains Britain’s early warning system for changing environments, so what can the Cairngorms reveal about winter right now, and in the future?
Winterwatch episode 1 2020
Eurasian otter
The Eurasian otter also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia. The most widely distributed member of the otter subfamily (Lutrinae) of the weasel family (Mustelidae), it is found in the waterways and coasts of Europe, many parts of Asia, and parts of northern Africa. The Eurasian otter has a diet mainly of fish, and is strongly territorial. It is endangered in some parts of its range, but is recovering in others.
The Eurasian otter is the most widely distributed otter species, its range including parts of Asia and Africa, as well as being spread across Europe, south to Israel. Though currently believed to be extinct in Liechtenstein and Switzerland, they are now very common in Latvia, along the coast of Norway, in the western regions of Spain and Portugal and across Great Britain, especially Shetland, where 12% of the UK breeding population exists.
Ireland’s otters are geographically widespread and believed to be the most stable population in Europe. In Italy, they can be found in southern parts of the peninsula. The South Korean population is endangered. In India, the species is distributed in the Himalayan foothills, southern Western Ghats and the central Indian landscape.
