OTTERS have taken up residence at a farm in Bothenhampton - and cleaned out the owner's pond of his prized koi and grass carp stocks.

Peter Williams of Spring Farm first thought it might be mink taking his fish, but one night when out with his four springer gun dogs he came face to face with the culprit - an otter.

He said: "To begin with I thought it must be mink as I have caught them here before, but one night I was out with my dogs and in a stream between the two ponds we saw an otter. There was no doubt about it, seeing such a big mammal like that right in front of us.

"Then we found out where their holt was, under a bramble bush. They have had young now too."

Mr Williams is now resigned to the loss of his fish. "Some of them were 20lbs in weight," he said.