Otter Trust Earsham

The Otter Trust is the largest and oldest otter conservation organisation in the world. Its headquarters is at Earsham in Suffolk a beautiful setting on the banks of the River Waveney. British otters tend to be shy and retiring but the Trust's Asian Short-clawed otters are playful, extrovert and always delighted to welcome visitors.

There are three lakes at Earsham which are home to a wide selection of European waterfowl. The flock of free-flying Barnacle Geese is probably the largest in the country and now numbers over 200 birds. The resident birds on the Trust's marshes are joined by masses of wild waterfowl many of which spend the entire summer on the lakes with their numbers swelled in winter by hordes of visiting migrants. In the grounds of the Trust you can see Muntjac deer, Fallow deer and free-roaming wallabies.

The Otter Trust is a registered charity and was founded by Philip and Jeanne Wayre in 1971. In 1975 they purchased River Farm at Earsham near Bungay and set up the Trust's headquarters. The collection of otters there is the largest in the world. In 1983 the Otter Trust in co-operation with the Nature Conservancy Council (now called English Nature) began its famous reintroduction programme in order to save the otter from extinction in Eastern England and the Midlands. This programme was highly successful and by 1999 the Trust had bred and released 120 otters. This programme saved the otter from extinction overnight in lowland England.

The Tamar Otter Sanctuary has been sold and the Otter Trust is no longer associated with it.

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