Andy Wise is a Living Seas Wales Volunteer. In 2008, whilst surfing on Freshwater West Beach, Andy spotted an otter along the shoreline.
Recollection as follows:
“I'd gone on a Christmas day solo surf at Freshwater West, one of the best surfing beaches in Wales. Not surprisingly, with it being Christmas day itself, the beach was deserted and I had a couple of hours of peaceful, if cold, waves before paddling in. As I was being carried in by the white water close to the beach, I noticed what I thought was a dog trotting along the shoreline ahead of me, pretty much exactly where I was about to come to rest on the sand. I'm always a bit tense around unaccompanied dogs, especially in remote places so imagine my delight to find the dog was an otter!
I think because I was flat on my board paddling in it just didn't recognise me as either a human or a threat so just carried on pottering about quite unconcerned, and I floated gently up to within a couple of metres then just lay completely still as it trotted past then off up the beach.
Golden moment and a great Christmas present.”