An otter has taken up residence near Glasson Dock marina - delighting residents and visitors to the Lancaster village.
Sightings of otters in the wild are notoriously rare, but villagers have seen one running around Glasson since last Thursday.
Jamie Lamb, from The Shop at Glasson Dock, said the otter is believed to be living in a hole in the wall underneath the car park, as there are pawprints in the mud nearby.
"Everyone thinks it's brilliant and people want to come to the Dock to see it," said Jamie.
"I think there have been otters seen in Glasson in the past, but not for many years."
WATCH the Glasson Dock otter running across the village. Video courtesy of Fredrick Lamb and The Shop at Glasson Dock.
The European otter was close to extinction in Britain in the 1950s and 1960s because of pesticides affecting their breeding.
They can now be found in every county in England and Wales, thanks to bans on harmful pesticides, improvements to their habitats and better legal protection, said the RSPCA. But sightings of them in the wild remain very infrequent, as they are secretive creatures by nature.
Otters spend most of their time in rivers, ponds and wetland habitats, and are sometimes seen swimming and hunting at sea.
They are very good at hunting underwater and mostly eat fish, shellfish, crustaceans, as well as some small mammals, amphibians and birds. They can eat up to a kilogram of food each day.
Otters are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. This means it’s an offence to wilfully kill, injure or capture otters, or disturb them in their shelter, except under licence.
Here are more photos of the otter at Glasson.
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