Beaver Update

May 2026

Pete Short and Jonath­an Wil­let (01 June 2026)

Beaver Pop­u­la­tion Summary

Year 1 releases – 18. Year 2 releases – 15. Year 3 releases – 7. 2024 wild-born kits – 2 (from 2 fam­il­ies). 2025 wild-born kits – 18 (from 8 fam­il­ies). 2026 wild-born kits – 1* (from 1 fam­ily). Total of 61 (includ­ing pos­sibly 2 beavers out­with the Nation­al Park boundary).

*run­ning total, pop­u­la­tion mon­it­or­ing is under­way in June/​July to con­firm 2026 breeding.

Activ­ity

• Rothiemurchus (Lochan Mor/​Lily Loch): Beavers still act­ive on the site. No fresh felling. Plenty of cop­pice regen­er­a­tion. Fire site 200 metres north of the loch.
• Kin­rara 1: Beavers are still act­ive on this site.
• Kin­rara 2: Beavers are still act­ive on this site.
• Kin­rara 3: Beavers are still act­ive on this site.
• Kin­rara 4: Lim­ited activ­ity on site.
• Glen Tromie: Some fresh feed­ing found, lots of birch coppicing.
• Insh Marshes: Beavers still act­ive on site and have explored nearly all of the reserve.
• Inshriach: Beavers are still act­ive on the site. Vig­or­ous coppicing/​regrowth, par­tic­u­larly of White Pop­lar. This is the only site where some Hazel has been felled.
• Loch Mor­lich 1: Beavers are still act­ive on the site. Two reports of a kit this month from a loc­al. A tiny kit was seen in the mouth of an adult both times. It was being retrieved after being a bit too adven­tur­ous! Kits tend to be kept in the bur­row for a month after being born, until they are big enough to dive.
• Loch Mor­lich 2: Beavers not seen this month.
• Aviemore area: Cam­era to be deployed in June – area rel­at­ively inaccessible.
• Kin­gussie Graz­ings: Very fresh felled syca­more found – no oth­er fresh activity.

Sites out­with Kin­gussie to Aviemore

• Crom­dale beaver: Canoe­ing instruct­or repor­ted fresh feed­ing signs in the area.
• Gar­mouth beaver: One report of two beavers at Gar­mouth – yet to be confirmed.
• Lag­gan Bridge: Fresh feed­ing on Scots Pine (sap lick­ing) found.
• Boat of Garten: No recent activ­ity. Beaver not seen on the trail cam this month.
• Grant­own between the A95 bridge and the Cairn Dis­til­lery: Fresh scent mound­ing found this month.

Mon­it­or­ing and Mit­ig­a­tion Plan Actions

• Monthly patrols of release sites undertaken.
• Weekly patrols of high impact areas have been undertaken.
• Beaver dam remov­al site. Sur­veyed area in May. One beaver video on a cam­era trap repor­ted in the last two months.
• Wrapped two vet­er­an aspen trees with weld mesh at Boat of Garten.
• Mon­it­or­ing and Mit­ig­a­tion meet­ing, 24 June.

Rais­ing Aware­ness and Understanding

• 20 & 21 May. Beavers Across Bri­tain con­fer­ence in New­castle – delivered present­a­tions and work­shops, and engaged at a dis­play stand. All four of the Beaver Team were in attendance.
• Beaver and Aspen Group meet­ing, 10 June.
• Cairngorms Beaver Group meet­ing, 23 June.

N.B. If beavers are found in an area where the landown­er was not pre­vi­ously aware of their pres­ence, the Park Author­ity will con­tact that landown­er. The Park Author­ity does not routinely con­tact landown­ers with gen­er­al updates; this monthly update does that. There are What­s­App Groups for landown­ers around releases sites and also in any high impact areas, which have beavers present e.g. Laggan.