Spotting Otters and Water Voles in the Broads

The Broads: a stronghold for two shy mammals

Few corners of Britain offer better odds of a genuine wildlife encounter than the Broads. Otters, once on the brink here, have made a quiet and welcome return across the river network, and the Broads remains one of the last real strongholds in England for the water vole. Both animals depend on the same things: clean, slow-moving water, soft banks they can tunnel into, and plenty of reed, sedge and bankside cover to hide in.

That is good news for the visitor. It means you don't need to travel to a remote corner or book a guided expedition. With a slow boat, an early start and a bit of patience, you can reasonably hope to see both.

When to look: timing makes all the difference

Otters are not strictly nocturnal, but they are cautious, and the margins of the day are when they do most of their hunting. The first ninety minutes after sunrise is the single best window, with a second, usually shorter, spell in the last hour before dusk. Winter shifts the odds in your favour: with fewer people on the water and colder water pushing fish into shallower, easier-to-fish spots, otters are much more likely to be out in daylight.

Water voles keep more sociable hours. From roughly April to September they are active through the day, with a peak in mid-morning and again in late afternoon. They feed on a wide range of bankside plants and grasses, and they must eat often, so a quiet stretch of dyke in high summer can produce several sightings in an hour.

Where to look: the best broads, rivers and dykes

Both species are widely distributed, but some areas consistently deliver.

• Barton Broad and the upper River Ant — good otter water, with plenty of quiet inlets. The Ant between Wayford Bridge and Barton has produced regular sightings for years.
• Hickling Broad, Martham Broad and Horsey Mere — the largest, wildest broads, with extensive reed margins. Otters patrol the edges at first light.
• The dykes around How Hill — narrow, sheltered and rich in bankside vegetation. Excellent for water voles, and otters use them as convenient short cuts between broads.
• The Trinity Broads — quieter than the northern rivers and often overlooked, which is exactly why the wildlife is relaxed here.
• Small side dykes off the Bure and Thurne — anywhere with steep, soft-earth banks and a fringe of reeds is worth a slow pass.

Water voles prefer the smaller channels and narrow dykes; otters tend to use the broads and main rivers, slipping into the dykes to feed and travel.

Telling them apart — and reading the signs

The classic confusion is between a water vole and a brown rat, and it matters, because rats are common and voles are not.

A water vole has a blunt, rounded nose, small ears tucked close to the head, and a chestnut-brown coat. It swims with much of its body visible, including the head, and it usually dives with a loud, distinctive plop. A brown rat has a pointed snout, prominent ears, a longer and more obvious tail, and typically swims with only its head and back showing.

An otter is in a different league. It is roughly the size of a small dog, sits low in the water with head and shoulders breaking the surface, and dives with a smooth, sinuous roll rather than a splash. Listen too: otters sometimes give a sharp, whistled contact call, and cubs will whuffle to their mother.

Even when the animals stay hidden, they leave evidence. Look for spraint — otter droppings — on flat stones, mooring posts and log jetties. It is dark, often full of fish scales and bones, and smells faintly of hay or jasmine. Five-toed footprints in soft mud and smoothed slides down steep banks are also sure signs.

Watching from a boat without disturbing them

This is where most sightings are won or lost. The Broads has a 4mph speed limit on most waterways, and there is no better reason to respect it. A slow boat creates a small wash, makes less noise and gives you a chance to spot movement ahead rather than arriving on top of it.

When you see something, take the engine out of gear and drift. Aim to stay at least 20 to 30 metres away. Cut your speed well before you reach the animal, not as you pass it, and avoid pointing directly at the bank — pass at a gentle angle instead. Voices carry remarkably well across water, so keep conversation low.

Note that both species are legally protected. Water voles gained full protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act in 2008, and otters are protected as a European species. It is an offence to intentionally or recklessly disturb them, damage their burrows or block an entrance.

• Never moor against, or step onto, soft earth banks riddled with burrow holes.
• Keep dogs on the boat, not in the water, near known vole colonies.
• Skip the flash photography; it is startling and rarely produces a good picture.
• If an otter looks at you and disappears, you were too close. Back off quietly.

Practical kit and a few final habits

Binoculars of 8x42 are the ideal compromise for boat work — bright enough for dawn, wide enough to find a fast-moving animal. Wear dull greens, browns or greys rather than bright colours, and take a waterproof coat; early mornings on the water are cold even in July. A notebook is genuinely useful for recording times, locations and conditions, which will sharpen your eye over a season.

The real secret is simply repetition. Pick one quiet stretch of river, visit it at the same time on several mornings, and let the wildlife get used to a slow, predictable boat. The Broads rewards that kind of patience generously — and there is nothing quite like the first time a water vole plops into a dyke a few metres from your bow, or an otter surfaces, rolls, and is gone.