Where land meets sea, an otter has left its mark

Eriskay We don't have to get much nearer to confirm our suspicions that what we've found is an otter spraint site

It's the patch of colour, a green much brighter than that of the sheep-nibbled turf covering the rest of the slope, that first suggests there might be something worth investigating. A little lower down from where we were wandering along, it's just a few feet above where the carpet of grass meets the rocks that dip down to the sea. We don't have to get much nearer to confirm our suspicions that this is an otter spraint site.

But what a site! Far and away the largest I've ever seen, it has obviously been in use a long time. On seven or eight flat-topped hummocks that look like the remains of collapsed rabbit burrows is a pile, or the remains of a pile, of otter leavings.