Tobermory Otter Fund

Tobermory Otter Fund – 2020 vision!

Well, it’s been yet another year. I’m glad to say, in spite of not posting updates through the year, further progress has been made. I managed to track down the owners of the desired sculpture site and they are fully behind the project and have offered the site free of charge. This happened too late to push to the next stage in 2019.

The sculptor is also still keen to progress and the existing fund is gathering healthy interest above inflation and is worth more in real terms now than this time last year.

For those unfamiliar with the primary goal, the aim is to put in place a sculpture that will gather coin donations from the many visitors to Tobermory, funds which will support wildlife conservation (primarily otters to begin with) on Mull and beyond. The success of my long-dead ‘otter van’ proved this should work.

OK, so all’s good? Well, mostly.

The project is now far more ambitious than when I started this, and to some extent my “vision” and enthusiasm has created a rod for my own back. I have yet to find any organisation or individual willing to put up the matched funding for the project and it seems we are falling between two or three funding stools.

Efforts will of course continue and one way or another, the sculpture aspect of the project will be completed in 2020, even if the final development of the overall site might be delayed.

Once again, if anyone has any contacts (particularly personal contacts) that they think might be worth pursuing for funding, please do get in touch via my email: nicddd@yahoo.co.uk

For those who have donated outwith the sculpture project, rest assured, your funds are called upon from time to time to assist in day-to-day otter conservation, and thanks again for your support.

(photo: a new otter foraging in Tobermory Bay in 2018. Although I have given up otter photography in order to set an example regarding disturbance of wildlife by photographers, I do use it when necessary for conservation reasons. We were trying to establish whether an entangled otter seen in Tobermory had managed to free itself. We matched up dated photos from various photographers and managed to identify the particular otter concerned from its markings and established that it had indeed freed itself.)