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            The Tory run North Somerset Council are currently reviewing their funding on all external grants and the fear is that a number of volunteer run programmes and projects may find their funding cut in NSC’s attempts to trim £17 million from the budget over two years.

 

Brian Mathew, North Somerset’s Parliamentary Candidate for the Liberal Democrats visited Eleanor Phillips of the North Somerset Otter Group to discover what this may mean for efforts to protect one of Britain’s more popular wild mammals, the Otter.

 

Eleanor Phillips explained that the NSOG was set up in 2000 to monitor the otter population in the area. Since then 43 volunteers have been trained to help with the monitoring exercise, with the monthly monitored sites registering an average of 23% otter presence. Eleanor went on to explain that otters as creatures at the top of the food chain are not only important in themselves, but give a clear indication of the quality of the environment. Otter populations in the UK are on the rise again after progressive falls in their population from the 1950’s onwards due to poor environmental practices including the use of pesticides and chemicals in the environment. The otters of North Somerset are particularly important because they offer a link between the otter population of Wessex and those to the south west.

 

The Otter Group is one element of the North Somerset Levels and Moors Project, which receives just over £10,000 per year from NSC. Other main funders of the NSLMP are the Avon Wildlife trust, Natural England, and the Environment Agency. The element of support provided by NSC is around a quarter of the NSLMP’s yearly funding and on such a low turnover any reduction could be catastrophic to the survival of both the Otter Group and its parent organisation.

 

The Otter group though largely dependent on the work of volunteers, also needs professional support from NSLMP to provide training and to maintain research integrity. Services like these require long term commitment from all involved. With volunteers morale is vital and uncertainty over funding should not be allowed to cast a shadow over this important environmental work.

 

James Field, North Somerset Levels and Moors Biodiversity Officer who is based at Avon Wildlife Trust, explained about the volunteers that serve on the Otter Group, he says:

 

 

He went on to say, “The recovery of otters nationally and their return to North Somerset is undoubtedly a conservation success story.  However it should be remembered that the collapse in otter populations during the previous century went largely unnoticed for many years until the situation became desperate.  The work of the NSOG and other similar projects around the country is vital and is the only way to make sure that this situation isn't repeated.  Current threats to otter populations include road kills and the recent discovery of a foreign parasite that infects the bile ducts of otters.  The eventual impact of this is as yet unknown.  North Somerset is very much a frontier zone in the expansion of otters from one of their national strongholds; the southwest.  Any future population trends may well be noticed here first.