Otter pups gambol on the rocks

Isle of Gigha, Argyll The young otters were having a good time, splashing and paddling and roughhousing; we were enchantedHaving abandoned our bikes by the gate, we follow a cattle trodden path between walls of bracken down to where field meets sand. The silver slip of a beach is postcard perfect, a flawless bleached-bone white. But close up it is busy with the telltale trails of recent visitors: speechmark hoofprints of cattle and the flatfoot waddle of whooper swans, each webbed imprint as lar