Monthly beaver update - July 2025

Beaver Update July 2025 Jonath­an Wil­let (1 August 2025)

Beaver Pop­u­la­tion Sum­mary Year 1 releases – 18 Year 2 releases – 15 2024 Kits – 2 (from two fam­il­ies) 2025 Kits – 14 (from sev­en fam­il­ies) Total = 49 (includ­ing 1 beaver out­with the Park boundary)

Activ­ity • Rothiemurchus (Lily Loch): Three kits seen on the 6 July. All 6 beavers on site seen on occa­sion. • Wild­land 1: Kit activ­ity much reduced, only single adults seen. • Wild­land 2: Kit activ­ity much reduced, two adults seen out in the water. • Insh Marshes. No change on site. Two fam­il­ies had two kits each. Sur­veil­lance has not been pos­sible at the oth­er ter­rit­ory. The kits were seen on the 1 and 3 July. • Wild­land 3: No change on site, still no sign of a lodge or bur­row • Wild­land 4: Usu­ally just one beaver seen at any one time • Inshriach: Single kit seen on the 1 July, three adults sighted at vari­ous times in July. One of these would be last year’s yearling. • Loch Mor­lich: A single kit was seen close to the bur­row on the 16 July. Both adults sighted this month. • Aviemore: No activ­ity recor­ded. • Kin­gussie Graz­ings: Inter­mit­tent sight­ings of a single beaver on cam­era and fresh feed­ing signs.

Sites out­with Kin­gussie to Aviemore • Crom­dale beaver kit. Still present on site.

• Fochabers beaver. The beaver was pho­to­graphed from the Gar­mouth via­duct on the 25 July.

Mon­it­or­ing and Mit­ig­a­tion Plan Actions • Monthly patrols of release sites under­taken. • Weekly patrols of high impact areas have been under­taken. • Beaver dam remov­al site. Some recent activ­ity. Three newly planted apple trees wire wrapped. • The canoe sur­vey of the Spey star­ted on the 30 July, to be com­pleted by the begin­ning of Octo­ber. • The kit watches will cease in early August • A licence to fill in the bur­row at Old Milton was sub­mit­ted on the 11 of July

Rais­ing Aware­ness and Under­stand­ing • Film­ing for a 30 second cinema advert about the Cairngorms Beaver Pro­ject took place on the 23 July. It will be in UK cinemas with Pearl and Dean advert­ising for 3 months. For a taste of two pre­vi­ous adverts see Wild Spaces

Meet­ings • 2 July. Touch and tell event with sight-impaired folk. 10 in attend­ance. • 9 July. Beaver train­ing day for 4 train­ee Rangers.