River Otter, Devon
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The River Otter is a river that rises in the
Blackdown Hills The Blackdown Hills, or Blackdowns, are a range of hills along the Somerset-Devon border in south-western England. The plateau is dominated by hard chert bands of Upper Greensand with some remnants of chalk, and is cut through by river valleys. ...
just inside the county of
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
near Otterford, then flows south through
East Devon East Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Honiton, although Exmouth is the largest town. The district also contains the towns of Axminster, Budleigh Salterton, Cranbrook, Ottery St M ...
. It enters the
English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
at the western end of Lyme Bay, part of the Jurassic Coast, a
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
. The Permian and Triassic sandstone aquifer in the Otter Valley is one of Devon's largest groundwater sources, supplying drinking water to 200,000 people.


Topography

The river's source is north of Otterford, where a stream feeds the Otterhead Lakes: and then through Churchstanton before entering
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
. The river flows through a predominantly rural area, with small cattle, sheep and dairy farms. The largest town in the Otter Valley is Honiton. Tourism and leisure play important roles in the economy. For much of its length, the river flows through two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) – the
Blackdown Hills National Landscape The Blackdown Hills, or Blackdowns, are a range of hills along the Somerset-Devon border in south-western England. The plateau is dominated by hard chert bands of Upper Greensand with some remnants of chalk, and is cut through by river valleys. ...
(to the north of Honiton) and East Devon National Landscape (to the south of Ottery St Mary). The river passes through or by
Upottery Upottery (originally Up Ottery) is a rural village, civil parish and former manor in East Devon, England. Location Upottery takes up both sides of the upper vale of the Otter which flows to the English Channel south of Ottery St Mary and is a ...
, Rawridge,
Monkton Monkton may refer to: Places ;United Kingdom *Monkton, Devon, England *Monkton, Kent, England *Monkton, Pembroke, Wales *Monkton, South Ayrshire, Scotland *Monkton, Tyne and Wear, England *Monkton, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales ;Canada *Monkton, Ontari ...
, Honiton, Alfington, Ottery St Mary, Tipton St John, Newton Poppleford and Otterton. It then reaches the Otter Estuary to the east of Budleigh Salterton. The Otter Estuary Nature Reserve is a
Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
(SSSI) consisting of tidal mudflats and saltmarsh. There is no public access to the estuary itself but footpaths lead to two viewing platforms on the west and two hides one on the west and one on the east. The wintering population of wildfowl and waders includes
common redshank The common redshank or simply redshank (''Tringa totanus'') is a Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae. Taxonomy The common redshank was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of hi ...
, greenshank, dunlin, common sandpiper, ringed plover, grey plover, Eurasian curlew, common snipe, water rail,
Eurasian wigeon The Eurasian wigeon or European wigeon (''Mareca penelope''), also known as the widgeon or the wigeon, is one of three species of wigeon in the dabbling duck genus ''Mareca''. It is common and widespread within its Palearctic range. Taxonomy T ...
,
Eurasian teal The Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca''), common teal, or Eurasian green-winged teal is a common and widespread duck that breeds in temperate Eurosiberia and migrates south in winter. The Eurasian teal is often called simply the teal due to being th ...
, common shelduck, brent goose, red-breasted merganser and
little grebe The little grebe (''Tachybaptus ruficollis''), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''takhus'' "fast" and ''bapto'' "to sink under". The specific ''ruficollis'' is from Latin ...
. Eurasian reed warbler, reed bunting and sedge warbler breed on the reserve. The
Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
measures the water level of the Otter and its tributaries at six or more "river level stations". The point at which the river reaches the coast () is part of the Jurassic Coast, a
World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
. A small tributary is the River Tale, with the confluence NW of Ottery St Mary. This small town (associated with
Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...
, Sir
Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebell ...
, and an annual tar barrel rolling event) is the site of an unusual circular weir, known as the Tumbling Weir. Another small tributary is Budleigh Brook, which joins the Otter at East Budleigh. At one time there were as many as fifty
watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...
s powered by the River Otter. One of the remaining working mills, thought to date from the 17th century, is Tracey Mill near Honiton. In the 1970s, fish ponds were dug around the mill, fed by the leat; over a million gallons of fresh water flow through these ponds every day, helping the commercial production of trout "without the need for antibiotics or added oxygen". One mill, at Dotton, is known to have operated from around 1100 to 1960, after which the building was demolished. The site was excavated by Channel 4's archaeological television programme ''
Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...
'', the episode "The Domesday Mill" being broadcast in 2007. This mill is mentioned in the
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
. A weir diverted water to the mill's leat, supplying the vertical breast-shot wheel. Dotton (now little more than a farm) is from the mouth of the Otter, and about north of the village of Colaton Raleigh. At the village of Otterton (once a seaport on a larger Otter Estuary), Otterton Mill is a working watermill over 1,000 years old; it was one of the three largest mills in Devon as recorded in the
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086. It is powered by water diverted through a leat. Immediately north of the leat, a fish pass has been constructed beside a river-wide weir, restoring migratory fish runs to the river after a break of over 100 years.


Coleridge

The poet
Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...
(1772–1834), who was born in Ottery St Mary, wrote a sonnet entitled " Sonnet to the River Otter". At Ottery St Mary the river is spanned by a foot and cycle bridge named Coleridge Bridge; built at a cost approaching £1 million, this was officially opened on 29 August 2011. A small area of land at one end of the bridge was sold to the local authority by William Coleridge, 5th Baron Coleridge, a descendant of the poet.


Beaver population

The Otter is the only river in England known to contain a wild breeding population of
Eurasian beaver The Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber'') or European beaver is a species of beaver widespread across Eurasia, with a rapidly increasing population of at least 1.5 million in 2020. The Eurasian beaver was hunted to near-extinction for both its fur ...
s, a species that died out in Britain in around 1550. The origin of the population is not known; it was first noticed in 2013, apparently successfully bearing three kits the next year. Following concern from local landowners and anglers, as well as farmers worrying that the beavers could carry disease, the government announced that it would capture the beavers and place them in a zoo or wildlife park. A sport fishing industry lobbyist group, the Angling Trust, said "it would be irresponsible even to consider re-introducing this species into the wild without first restoring our rivers to good health." This decision to immediately remove the beavers was protested by local residents and campaign groups, with environmental journalist
George Monbiot George Joshua Richard Monbiot ( ; born 27 January 1963) is an English journalist, author, and Environmental movement, environmental and political activist. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and has written several books. Monbiot ...
describing the government and Angling Trust as "control freaks": "I'm an angler, and the Angling Trust does not represent me on this issue...most anglers, in my experience, have a powerful connection with nature. The chance of seeing remarkable wild animals while waiting quietly on the riverbank is a major part of why we do it." The introduction of beavers to rivers has been encouraged by environmentalists, who have argued that beaver dams provide a habitat for birds and fish, reduce the strength of flooding by trapping water high up in a
catchment area A catchment area in human geography, is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...
, away from homes further downstream, and could be a future tourist attraction. In January 2015,
Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
said that the beavers would be allowed to remain on condition that they were disease-free and of the Eurasian species (not
North American beaver The North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') is one of two Extant taxon, extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber''). It is native to North America and has been introduced in South America (Patagonia) and Europe ...
s, which would be invasive). These conditions were met, and the beavers were returned to the river as part of a five-year trial. In August 2020, the government announced that the beavers, which by then numbered 15 family groups, could remain on the river indefinitely. It was the first legally sanctioned reintroduction of an extinct native animal anywhere in England.


References


External links


Otter Valley Association

BBC - Devon's rivers: The Otter

BBC - Devon - Walks: The River Otter and Heritage Coast

Otter Valley Weather
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otter, River Rivers of Devon Rivers of Somerset Watermills mentioned in the Domesday Book