Carnage on the river bank

After another sweltering day we were enjoying a refreshing dip in a glorious stretch of the Dart, overhung with greenery and bordered by delicate cow parsley.  Suddenly there was triumphant barking from Buddy, Yaara's permanently excited black labrador.  He was on a big rock in the river, with a huge fish in his mouth.  We rushed over, to find him with the remains of a two foot long salmon -  all that was left of it was the head and the skeleton.   It was like one of those cartoon fishes in Tom and Jerry - pretty much all of it  had been eaten - but what remained of the flesh was a beautiful pink colour. Just to the side of the rock was evidence of the crime - fish scales and bones were everywhere.  We assume the fish had been killed by an otter - it must have been quite a fight to witness, as they were probably about the same size.  My brother Matt says the skin peeled back but still attached to the fish is characteristic of an otter kill.