Recent evidence of increasing numbers of otters visiting the Buckingham area has led the conservation group BTCV to arrange a training course for volunteers, who will help gather crucial information.

Susan Le, officer for the Buckingham Community Wildlife Project, said: "Although otter populations were once in severe decline, they are now thought to be making a comeback, but working out exactly how many otters there are is the real challenge facing conservationists today in helping otters to survive for the long-term.

"Otters have recently been recorded around the Bucking-ham area but more information is desperately needed."

She said otters can now be found in several places upstream near
Bedford, and one has been recorded on the west side of Buckingham, meaning the animal must have passed through the town.

Initiatives by local landowners to control numbers of mink, a voracious non-native predator, are thought to be assisting the return of otters and other rare creatures such as water voles.

BTCV needs local people who can look for evidence of otters by the River Great Ouse in Buckingham once a month. People living in the town can attend a free training course on Saturday, February 23, as part of the Buckingham Community Wildlife Project.

Volunteers will be shown how to spot signs of otters, and how to tell them apart from other river creatures.

Trained volunteers can then choose to join a local group to survey for evidence of otters in and around Bucking-ham.

Contact Susan Le at the BTCV conservation group on 01296 330033 or email bcwp@btcv.org.uk to book a place on the course.