Otters. Three of them. I once saw an otter from the deck of a ship in Shetland, swimming between islands. But what happened to me today was way beyond that. I'm still in awe of it now. I was walking out of Blaxhall towards Burnt House Farm. I stopped for a while at the bridge over the River Alde, normally just a brook here but swollen with the recent rain. Setting off again, I'd only gone a short way when something in the distance caught my eye, about 150m away. I thought it was two rabbits at first, but it was moving differently. Then I saw a third object, the three of them moving down the road with the rippling motion of ferrets. Otters. I stood absolutely still, right there in the middle of the road, and somehow retreated into myself, trying to present as unthreatening a profile as possible. They came gambolling along down the wet lane which was sparkling in the sunlight, playing some kind of game which involved pouncing on each other and trying to knock the smallest one into the puddles. I held my breath. Closer and closer they came, completely unaware of my presence, and I could make out the sleek chocolate-brown fur, small rounded ears and long whiskers. Suddenly a cow mooed in the field opposite, and they stopped dead, looking round with noses aquiver, trying to trace the source of the sound. They were incredibly close. One looked straight at me and suddenly gave a surprised squeak. He began to slink away furtively in the hope that I hadn't noticed. The other two looked me up and down and then followed the first one into the lush grass at the side of the road. I fixed my eyes on the point at which they disappeared, and took measured paces towards it. Seven. They were seven metres away from me. I stood there on the road completely enthralled, wearing a big Aussie bush hat on my head and an enormous grin on my face. After a while I walked on, and my first coherent thought was: "Oh my god, who can I tell?"
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Topic: seen today (part two)