A walk down the river in winter. The water levels are very low in the chalk streams and they are very quiet. However, when you look closer you see the shiny pads where water voles have been sitting and the black, crumbly spraints left by otters. Even on a cold, showery January afternoon, there is the occasional ring on the water as a grayling or trout swirls around to take some food off the bed or from the surface.
I'll come back in the spring to find the kingfisher nest and I might, just might, if I am really lucky, glimpse that elusive otter.
