An otter’s eye view of the world, with its human connections and its human-free watery paradise.

Maxwell’s classic account of his relationship with otters confirms many of the admirable and adorable aspects of the animal described in Williamson’s masterpiece, Tarka the Otter. However, I would say that Tarka is less egocentric, and the author’s relationship with otters less selfish and fundamentally more respectful of the wild animal.

‘But it remained around us three that his orb revolved when he was not away in his own imponderable world of wave and water, of dim green depths and tide-swayed fronds of the sea-tangle.’ 

See our quote-studded celebration of Tarka.

Source: Gavin Maxwell, Ring of Bright Water (London: Penguin, 1974), p. 141