Watch: Wild Otter spotted swimming around in Paisley town centre

A wild otter was spotted swimming in the River Cart in Paisley Town Centre yesterday, Wednesday October 4, 2023.

The video was posted to the Paisley Facebook group, and locals can’t get enough of the little fella - the post, by Csilla Kozma, got 874 likes, 127 comments, and 87 shares as of today, Thursday October 5, 2023.

Captured on camera, the video shows the little otter swimming along towards the videographer before gracefully diving beneath the water, it emerges again before paddling on downstream.

Seemingly the aquatic animal has been cruising down the River Cart, a tributary river to the River Clyde that runs between Erskine and Paisley, for a few days at least according to commenters who claim to have seen the otter earlier in the week.

Another commenter claims to have seen the otter playing in some old prams upstream in the River Cart where it passes through Shawlands.

A commenter wrote:“Thanks for sharing, that’s the fishing knackered”

One other wrote:”Amazing. Speaks volumes about the river. Brilliant.”

Another commenter refers to the work done by volunteer cleaners in and around Paisley, they wrote:“Wow! This is brilliant! Thanks for sharing. All the good work done by the volunteers.”

Finding mammals in the rivers around Glasgow used to be unheard of, but the phenomenon is becoming more and more common. Otters can also be very shy around humans, so getting a video of the little critter so close-up is very impressive.

A report on Otters by Glasgow City Council reads as such:”Otters are very elusive and are more active in the early morning and late evening. They are undoubtedly more common than current records suggest.

“Within Glasgow they have been recently recorded on all the major watercourses; the River Clyde, River Kelvin, White Cart Water, North Calder and Forth and Clyde Canal.”

Other animals have been spotted along the River Cart and at times the Clyde which it flows into, from seals to dolphins and even a humpback whale earlier this year. This could indicate that there are more fish along the River Clyde now and the water quality is improving after over a century of heavy industry upon Glasgow’s river.