A canal bank at first light is one of the quietest places in Britain, and one of the busiest. An otter has already been through, water voles are feeding somewhere behind the reeds, and a hedgehog has crossed the towpath on its way to a garden pond. You do not need luck to see any of them. You need patience, decent timing and the ability to read what the bank has left behind.

Read the bank before you look for the animal

Most waterside mammals are nocturnal or crepuscular, which means your chances of a casual daytime sighting are slim. Field signs even the odds. Soft mud, wet gravel and the strips of bare earth at the water's edge hold a record of the night, and it stays readable for a day or two after rain.

• Tracks. Otter footprints are broad and rounded, often showing five toes and a wide webbing mark. Water vole prints are small and star-shaped, with four toes on the front foot.
• Droppings. Otter spraint is dark, tarry and often left on a flat stone or a ledge under a bridge. Water vole droppings are small, green-brown and look like tic-tacs.
• Feeding remains. Piles of nibbled stems, chewed fish, or a scatter of frog and beetle remains tell you what has been eating here.
• Runs and slides. Flattened tunnels through grass, and smoothed chutes down a steep bank into the water.
• Entrances. Holes in the bank, above or below the waterline, sometimes with a neatly grazed patch of grass in front.

Get low when you look. Most of these signs sit within half a metre of the ground, and they are far easier to spot from a crouch than from standing height.

Water voles: the small, tidy bank engineers

Water voles are often described as rat-like, which does them a disservice. Look for a blunt, rounded nose, ears almost hidden in the fur, and dark brown fur with a short, fur-covered tail. Brown rats have pointed faces, prominent ears and a long, hairless tail.

Their burrows are the giveaway: a cluster of holes in a soft earth bank, each one about the width of a clenched fist, with a small lawn of cropped grass around the entrance. Nearby you may find a latrine — a pile of droppings on a stone or a ledge — and feeding stations where stems have been cut at a neat 45-degree angle.

Water voles are legally protected in the UK, so keep your distance, stay off the burrow bank and never dig or probe. If you hear a loud splash and nothing reappears, that is often a water vole diving straight into its burrow. It is also the sound most first-time watchers mistake for a fish.

Otters: easier to trace than to see

In quiet places, otters will be out in daylight, but the reliable windows are the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before dusk. Look for a slow, deep pool rather than a fast riffle, and watch a stretch of bank you can see along, not across.

Finding spraint is the easiest way to confirm otters are present. It is usually deposited on a prominent rock, a tree root or under a bridge, and often contains fish bones and scales. Slides, where animals have repeatedly entered the water, look like polished chutes on steep banks. Holts — their resting places — are usually hidden under tree roots or in dense cover, and should be left well alone.

An otter swimming is unmistakable once you have seen it: low in the water, head forward, a thick tail trailing behind and a habit of rolling at the surface.

Otters are protected by law and are easily disturbed, particularly a mother with cubs. Watch from a distance with binoculars rather than edging closer along the bank.

Hedgehogs: the unexpected swimmer

Hedgehogs are not water specialists, but they swim well and are frequent visitors to pond edges, canal gardens and damp hedgerows. Warm, mild, damp nights after a spell of rain are the best conditions to find one snuffling along a hedge bottom.

You will often hear a hedgehog before you see it — a steady rustle and snuffle in dead leaves, punctuated by a loud huff if it senses you. Their droppings are dark, shiny, roughly two centimetres long and usually full of beetle wing cases. Tracks show five toes with long claws on a broad, star-shaped pad.

If you have a garden pond, a shallow beach or a gently sloping ramp at one end gives hedgehogs a safe way out. Steep-sided water is a genuine hazard for them.

Time your visit properly

Dawn and dusk are not just tradition, they are strategy. Light is low enough to relax wary animals and bright enough for you to see.

• First light. Best for otters, and often for water voles in quiet places.
• Last light. Another good otter window, and the start of hedgehog activity.
• After dark. The only realistic time for hedgehogs. Use a red-light torch, which disturbs them less than a white beam.
• Weather. Mild, damp, still nights bring hedgehogs out. Rain makes tracks readable for days afterwards. In strong wind, head for a sheltered, leeward bank where the water is calmer.

Observe without being noticed

Approach with the wind in your face, keep below the skyline and use reeds, a hedge or a tree trunk as a screen. Wear dark, soft clothing and leave the aftershave at home. Most importantly, arrive early and sit still.

1. Choose a spot with a clear view of a bank or pool, and settle in fifteen minutes before you expect anything.
2. Stay quiet and low. Sit, do not stand and scan.
3. Keep at least twenty metres away from burrows, holts and feeding areas, and use binoculars instead.
4. Keep dogs on a lead and out of the water near banks.
5. Never handle a wild mammal. If you find an injured animal, contact a licensed wildlife rescue.

Your first waterside mammal watch

Pick a small, manageable stretch: two hundred metres of canal towpath, a river bend with a soft outer bank, or a reserve hide overlooking a pond. Walk it once in daylight to find burrows, slides and flat stones, then come back an hour before dusk and sit still.

Record what you see, even the small things. Local wildlife record centres and county mammal groups rely on sightings from people walking the same paths every week, and a note of a spraint or a burrow entrance is genuinely useful. Take a torch, a notebook, a flask and warm layers. Then let the bank do the talking.

Photo: garten-gg / Pixabay