Environment Agency have confirmed that there are at least two otters in Kent, which have built their holts on the River Medway and the River Eden.

"The recovery of otters from near-extinction shows how far we've come in controlling pollution and improving water quality," said Alastair Driver, the Environment Agency's National Conservation Manager. "Rivers in England are the healthiest for over 20 years, and otters, salmon and other wildlife are returning to many rivers for the first time since the industrial revolution.

"The fact that otters are now returning to Kent is the final piece in the jigsaw for otter recovery in England and is a symbol of great success for everybody involved in otter conservation."

Otters are at the top of the food chain, and are therefore an important indicatorOffices Held

Biography

The family bank was considered no place for Alexander Baring’s heir Bingham, and after leaving Geneva and Oxford, where in 1821 he gained a second in classics, he was brought, by means of a yeomanry commission, into the county life of Hampshire, where his arriviste father, Member for Taunton, and Baring uncles Henry, Member for Colchester, and Sir Thomas, Member for Chipping Wycombe, had substantial estates.2 Touring the continent early in 1822 he caused a stir by becoming engaged to Lady Harriet Montagu, daughter of the late 6th earl of Sandwich, who was dismissed by John Stuart Wortley* and his Oxford friends as ‘a little fright of 16’.3 Alexander Baring settled £5,000 a year on them directly, with £25,000 a year under settlement and a £3,000 a