Pictures: Otter spotted on the River Taw

By NDJJoe | Posted: January 18, 2016

The otter has been an unofficial symbol for North Devon ever since the book Tarka The Otter was published in 1927

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An otter has been spotted on the River Taw near Barnstaple reminding residents that this is Tarka The Otter country.

Journal photographer Rob Tibbles was out taking pictures of the river early on Saturday morning when he spotted the river dwelling mammal.

"After days of non-stop rain, I thought I'd take advantage of the early morning light and went out to explore the lower reaches of the Taw," said Rob.

"I was shooting wide angle landscapes when a friend said they'd seen an otter.

"I quickly changed lenses and tried to follow the trail of bubbles as it swam along the bank. I lost it for a while and almost gave up but then I spotted movement in the deep shadow of an overhang of an old wall.

"It was tricky to shoot as it was in such a dark spot. I managed to get a few shots

Read on and pictures ....

Barnstaple councillor finds mystery bug in roll of Tesco cling film

A BARNSTAPLE town councillor has found a mystery bug in a roll of cling film.

Julie Hunt bought the cling film earlier this month and revealed the insect as she got towards the end of the roll.

“I don’t know what it is with me,” said Julie, who bought the pickle and cling film at Tesco.

“About a year ago we found a caterpillar in frozen peas and just chucked it out.

“We joked about who ate half of it, because we didn’t find it until it was cooked, and we only found half a caterpillar.

“I must be jinxed.”

Bemused Julie, town councillor for Whiddon Valley, thinks the mystery bug is a small centipede.

“I started to see little bits of black as I rolled out the cling film and thought, what’s that,” she said. “Then I got to the bug. It’s really bad.

Continued

Barnstaple farmer claims on phone insurance after iPhone gets stuck inside a cow

A farmer from Barnstaple claimed on his insurance after his iPhone 3GS got stuck inside a cow while he was assisting the animal during calving.

The man, in his 30s, said he was using the torch on his mobile phone when it accidentally disappeared after being inserted into the back end of one of his cows. The smartphone later surfaced but was damaged.

The incident was one of a number of unusual claims for lost or damaged mobile phones last year, according to company mobileinsurance.co.uk.

The insurance provider confirmed the claim was successful and said the farmer had been issued with a new iPhone.

The outlandish claim topped a list of the weirdest claims made to the insurance giant over the past twelve months.

Read on:  http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/Barnstaple-farmer-claims-phone-insurance-iPhone/story-17168399-detail/story.html