'Exciting year' for wildlife sightings in Yorkshire, trust says

Breeding otters were spotted for the first time in 60 years at Wheldrake Ings, near York (stock image)

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust says it has enjoyed an "exciting year" for wildlife sightings across the region.

Breeding otters were spotted for the first time in 60 years at Wheldrake Ings, near York.

The trust said the presence of a mother and her cubs was a sign of improving water quality.

A photographer also captured a rare shot of a pine marten, which had travelled from the North York Moors to Spurn Point on the Yorkshire coast.

The animal, a cat-sized member of the weasel family, was captured by photographer Paul Willoughby at the reserve in April, having travelled about 60 miles (96km) from Dalby Forest.

The pine marten, nicknamed Two Dots, travelled more than 60 miles to reach the Yorkshire coast

In its look back at 2023, the wildlife trust said there was "a great deal" to celebrate.

Chief executive Rachael Bice said: "Our landscape-scale projects are making a difference at a significant scale, and we are helping new life to flourish through our species reintroductions and breeding successes.

"More than ever before, Yorkshire's wildlife needs the protection offered by our nature reserves.

"These incredible places, some of the best examples of a once rich and wild Yorkshire landscape, are now increasingly rare pockets of sanctuary and the last refuges for much of our iconic and irreplaceable wildlife.

"We are working to join up these pockets as best we can and have ambitious plans for 2024."

Ripon City Wetlands hopes to see breeding pairs of osprey in future after a breakthrough earlier this year

In mid-May, the Ripon City Wetlands nature reserve saw its first osprey, which had travelled all the way from the Lake District. The trust said it hoped ospreys would breed there in future.

Other highlights included sightings of bottlenose dolphins off Spurn Point in September, and of four common dolphins at Runswick Bay, North Yorkshire, described as a rare event for that part of coastline.

A basking shark was also sighted off Flamborough Head in October.

Elsewhere, rare water germander plants, last found in Yorkshire in 1863, were successfully reintroduced at Bolton-on-Swale.