This last couple of weeks have seen me returning from working in Scotland to spend just over a week in Somerset, followed by working in Wales and this week spending two days working in Devon.
I took the opportunity on this visit as I was staying in Totnes town rather than at the country house hotel I normally stay at on the edge of Dartmoor to take a few late evening and early morning strolls along the banks of the River Dart.
While spending time down at the rivers edge I was reminded of a book from my childhood, Tarka the Otter, a book which started my own fascination with Otters and a wish to see them in the wild rather than in reserves. However while I didn't see any wild Otters while out and about and the only Tarka that I saw was the boat above, I did take the opportunity to make this recording while walking along the river early in the morning musing on the storey and author of Tarka the Otter and on the sights to be seen on an early morning walk on the Dart.
Click to Play or Download Wanderings on the Dart
The walk took me from the 'old bridge' at Totnes to Dartington along the banks of the river Dart. On a visit back to the river later in the day I got to talking to a local lady who was watching out for wildlife who informed me that the Dart here is tidal which explains why the river was at such a high level on my previous visits. On this later visit areas of the path which were inaccessible before were now dry and the river was a quite different place.
I say the 'old bridge' as apparently although the bridge which now stands over the Dart and is referred to as the old bridge it isn't the original 'old bridge' which stood adjacent to the present bridge and no longer exists. The weir I come across on the audio was constructed in Elizabethan times to divert some of the water and apparently the course that the Dart now takes is not it's original course which can still be discerned by a tree line that runs adjacent to the rivers present man made course.
Post recording the audio I have discovered that the signs of Otters being active on the River Dart are good.
BBC - Coast & Country - Spotting Otters on the Dart
Devon Wildlife Trust - The Dart Catchment
Intro and Incidental music by Heavy Mellow from the Acoustic Abstracts album. More information available from Magnatune.
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