Most people when speaking of the River Forth are referring to the Forth estuary or Firth of Forth, famous for its three bridges and being the inlet from the North Sea where Edinburgh and its port, Leith stand.
However the River Forth extends into the Trossachs and is actually a smaller brother to the less well known River Teith. It is a bit of a mystery to me at least, (I am sure there are some rules or conventions which river becomes the main stem of any watershed) when two rivers meet. In this case, the Teith and Forth meet at the Junction Pool ( most bigger rivers have a Junction Pool it seems, the Tweed and Teviot, the Forth and Teith, the Tay and Tummel and I am sure there are more ), which is just behind Dobbies Garden Centre on the outskirts of Stirling. The Teith to me looks the far bigger river, and the Forth soon shrinks to a pretty small waterway within a few hundred metres of the confluence.
The Forth then meanders across the valley floor on its way from its headwaters, which is known as the “old Forth” up in the Trossachs around Aberfoyle. On its way to the Teith it passes the village of Gargunnock and this is close to where I took the photo of Ben Ledi and the River Forth around sunset in winter 2020/2021.
You can access the river side behind a sawmill that sits just off the main A811 and it makes for a pleasant walk if the ground isn’t too soft underfoot, as it skirts around a nearby field following the river. I was looking for a nice sunset shot with a reflection of the snow covered mountain in the river. Unlike in stillwater, you are rarely going to get a perfect mirror type reflection in moving water but it does make for some visual interest nonetheless.
As I was searching around the banks looking for a spot I could get close enough and low enough to the river to get the desired reflection, I heard a plop, and turned to see the rings of a disturbance. Was it a fish? I had no idea, or maybe just something dropped by a bird? I could see nothing and went back to fiddling with my tripod and changing lenses.
Then I became aware of something just off on the edge of my peripheral vision and turned to see an Otter, bold as brass swimming by me. As luck would have it, I had just swapped my telephoto lens for a wide angle and it was on the tripod facing the wrong way! The Otter just swam by me. I rushed to grab the telephoto and change it but as if it knew, as soon as the lens clicked into place the otter ducked under the water, and out of sight.
I could see where it was “roughly” as it trailed a wake on the surface despite being fully submerged. It had to come up for air and eventually it did.
All I was able to manage was this slightly poor shot of the back of its head as it made its way up river away from me. Don’t underestimate how fast these creatures can move!
Prior close encounters
This isn’t my first close at hand encounter with an otter, a few years ago fishing on the River Carron one swam by me not 10 feet from my fishing position ( no camera was to hand at the time), and again on the Carron just last summer, I caught sight of a disturbance on the road near Larbert viaduct while I was standing on the adjacent road bridge looking at the river below. At first I thought it was a cat having a close thing with a lorry, then realised that it was a Mink and an otter having a bit of a fight on the road oblivious to the truck bearing down on them ( the truck was forced to stop !) . The Otter saw off the mink before turning and running right by me on the pathway and down to the water. It was just a wee thing but wasn’t taking any nonsense from the Mink!
But returning to the River Forth and a wee photography outing, it made for an interesting interlude on this walk, one day I will have my camera at the ready when an otter comes near again.