By Chloe

Otters live on land and in rivers. They can bite and fight with their tails. They have been around for at least 30 million years. They are often mistaken for beavers.

kingfisherkingfisher Kingfishers are small bright blue and orange birds. They fly rapidly low over water. They eat fish and aquatic insects. The adult kingfisher grows to a length of inches.

Swans are the largest flying birds. Males are bigger and heavier than females. Compared to geese they are much larger in size and have larger feet and necks. The legs of swans are normally a dark blackish grey colour.

They are often mistaken for rats. In Sussex the water vole population has gone down 90% in the last 20 years! Water voles have been seen 2.5 metres up a tree. They have between 2 and 5 babies per litter, they can have 5 to 8 litters per year. They try to protect themselves from predators by jumping into the water and kicking mud.

Most frogs don’t live near the water they live near it. Female frogs are hard to find as they are silent most of the time. Frogs can jump over 20 times their body length The longest jump ever recorded was 33.6 inches.

The mallard is a large and heavy looking duck. It has a long body and a long broad bill(beak). The male has a dark green head, a yellow bill, is mainly purple-brown on the breast and grey on the body. The female is mainly brown with an orange bill.

Beavers are the second largest rodent in the world. They use powerful front teeth to cut trees and other plants that they use both for building and for food. Beavers do not hibernate They have webbed hind- feet, and a broad scaly tail. Beavers have poor eyesight, but keen senses of hearing smell and touch.