Nature Features

At this time of year we start to ready our equipment for the following season.

One of the best and often coldest jobs is transferring our boats back to the boatyards so they can be serviced, painted and prepared for next year's visitors.

The journey takes us across Hickling Broad, Heigham Sound and Duck Broad before joining the River Thurne and then onward to Womack via Potter Heigham under its medieval bridge.

This is a chilly but thrilling and peaceful glide in an open electric reed lighter boat.

We had been on the water for only a few moments when just ahead of us at the end of a dyke was a movement in the water.

James Symonds also spotted the otter

At this time of year the broad is full of wintering wildfowl so it's not unusual to get very close to water birds.

We looked at the shape again. This was not a duck. It had a very flat-shaped head, swam low in the water and swished a long sleek tail.

We could not believe our luck, "It's an otter," I whispered to my companion James, trying not to shout with the excitement.

It swam towards us before turning left and climbing up into the reed bed. This was a 15-second glimpse of one of Britain's most secretive mammals.

Seeing otters in the wild is very rare and special and this was my first sighting despite working and sailing on the Norfolk Broads for more than 20 years.

Otter distribution in Norfolk is increasing although numbers are not known.

We often find footprints and droppings known as spraints which mark their territories and these smell of hay or, as some people say, jasmine tea.

To watch this special creature in its own environment was a fantastic and magical experience.