The Bishop's Palace had some special visitors recently when three young otters came to play in the moat and were spotted by gatekeeper Paul Arblaster as he closed the outer gardens for the evening.

He said: "As I was doing my usual end-of-day check for visitors who have lost track of the time relaxing in the gardens, I suddenly heard loud splashing noises and noticed some reeds flailing wildly.

"Realising these were not visitors of the human kind I then saw the characteristic gyrations of otters at play in the water. I quickly rode off on my bike to get my camera as this was too good an opportunity to miss recording.

"Along the way I bumped into James Cross, our head gardener and quickly told him to go and see the otters playing."

Almost every year otters pay the Bishop's Palace a visit but rarely stay for more than half an hour or so.

After collecting his camera Paul was back in the outer gardens and positioned on the far side of the St Andrew's well pool in the hope of getting a closer view, while his wife Carol, also gatekeeper at the Palace, took up her viewing position on the wooden bridge over the moat.

"Soon one swam out of the reeds and circled directly in front of me. It did not seem to know I was even there. They had a good snoop around, played with each other and scooped up their fill of sticklebacks. I have never seen them in the upper well pools before, or making such a brazen commotion. I count myself very fortunate to have got close enough to virtually touch them " added Paul.

The otters eventually made their way down the diagonal sluice back into the moat before heading off in the direction of the River Sheppey.

The National Otter Survey has revealed that otters are now present at many sites along Somerset rivers in habitats where no trace of the creature could be found in the past.

Otters rely on high quality water habitats to supply enough fish to support them and their presence is generally used to identify a high-quality water environment.

The National Otter Survey involved looking for signs of otters across the area.

The region has seen one of the highest increases in otters of any areas of the country with 76 per cent of sites surveyed showing positive signs of the creature's presence.

A video captured by Mr Arblaster of the otter swimming in the moat can be seen at www.thisissomerset.co.uk.