"If there’s one animal that strongly depends on clear water with a lot of fish, it’s the otter. After the water quality in the Netherlands improved drastically, people started a program to reintroduce the otter in 2002. The otter in this picture is one of the animals that were part of this successful project. The end result of the program is a healthy population of otters in the Netherlands. In winter, when the water is covered with ice, it pays off to keep an eye on the holes in the ice. The otter uses these holes to access the water and hunt for fish. By making swimming motions, the otter makes sure the ice hole does not freeze. In a wildlife park nearby Lelystad, I got permission from the forester to observe such an ice hole and take pictures there. After many hours of observation, I knew how the animal behaves and came up with a plan. I placed my camera right above the ice hole and used a 12-24 mm zoom lens. I camouflaged the setup with a camouflage net. At a safe distance from the ice hole, I keep an eye on the hole and operate my camera remotely. After waiting for many hours, the otter finally appears and looks at my camera setup in surprise. Mission accomplished!" - Says Ernst Dirksen.
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