OTTERS are beginning to return to East Lancashire’s waterways, say experts.

The elusive creatures have been spotted in the waterway around Martholme, near Great Harwood, and Altham, and parts of Pendle Water.

Now investigations are being carried out to track whether otters are making a return to the River Calder around Padiham for the first time in decades.

Environmental campaigners from the Ribble Catchment Conservation Trust are keen to firm up their initial findings, and are keen for people to share any sightings they have had.

The group’s survey work will be shared with fellow experts from the Environment Agency to build up a regional picture of the otters re-emergence.

Jack Spees, the trust’s director, said: “We really hope this year someone will catch up with one.

“We have even been running otter training days in local primary schools.”

The evidence of tracks and spraints (droppings) have provided clues to the otters’ whereabouts, but they remain notoriously shy.

Otters can grow to just over a metre in length and feed on eels, but will also hunt down a variety of marine life, including crayfish.

Thanks to cleaner rivers, they are beginning to move further downstream.

Ron Freethy, the Lancashire Telegraph’s nature columnist, said: “The otter was extinct around here.

"Lancashire had the most polluted rivers out of anybody.

“The otter would only come back if there were fish in the rivers.

"If there was no food, they couldn’t stay here.”

The trust also hopes to reintroduce salmon into the Brun and Calder, in Burnley town centre.

Two years ago the otter made a return to the Irwell Valley, in and around Ramsbottom, for the first time in almost a century.

People spotting otters in the Calder, or elsewhere, are asked to ring an Environment Agency hotline on 0870 8506506.