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Monthly beaver update - July 2026

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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Beaver Update

July 2026

Pete Short and Jonath­an Wil­let (13 August 2026)

Beaver Pop­u­la­tion Summary

  • Year 1 releases – 18
  • Year 2 releases – 15
  • Year 3 releases – 7
  • Total = 40
  • 2024 wild-born kits – 2 (from 2 families)
  • 2025 wild-born kits – 18 (from 8 families)
  • 2026 wild-born kits – 12* (from 7 families)
  • Total = 32
  • *run­ning total, pop­u­la­tion mon­it­or­ing is still under­way to con­firm final 2026 breeding
  • Total of 72 (includ­ing, pos­sibly, 2 beavers out­with the Nation­al Park bound­ary – Fochabers/​Spey Mouth).

Activ­ity

  • Rothiemurchus (Lochan Mor/​Lily Loch): Beavers still act­ive on the site. No kits seen dur­ing the kit watch peri­od. We will keep watch­ing this site until the end of the month.
  • Kin­rara 1: Beavers are still act­ive on this site. 3 kits this year.
  • Kin­rara 2: Beavers are still act­ive on this site. 2 kits this year.
  • Kin­rara 3: Lim­ited activ­ity on site. No beavers seen on site this month
  • Kin­rara 4: Lim­ited activ­ity on site. No beavers seen on site this month
  • Glen Tromie: Fresh feed­ing activ­ity upstream from the release site on the Tromie, almost all Row­an trees.
  • Insh Marshes: Beavers still act­ive on site and have explored nearly all of the reserve. Single kit seen on cam­era from two ter­rit­or­ies and two kits at the third territory.
  • Inshriach: Beavers are still act­ive on the site. Two, well-grown kits seen.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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  • Loch Mor­lich 1: Beavers are still act­ive on the site. Ten reports of a single kit since late May. The kit was filmed by a loc­al res­id­ent at the begin­ning of August and both par­ents and last year’s kits were seen on site.
  • Loch Mor­lich 2: Beavers not seen this month. There has been a wil­low felled at the very top of the Luineag, which may have be done by one of these beavers.
  • Aviemore area: Recent feed­ing signs seen by the No.3 green on the golf course.
  • Kin­gussie Graz­ings: No fresh feed­ing activ­ity, lots of cop­pice regrowth from the felled willows.

Sites out­with Kin­gussie to Aviemore

  • Crom­dale beaver: Site pre­sumed abandoned.
  • Gar­mouth beaver: One report of two beavers in Fochabers/​Spey Mouth area – still to be confirmed.
  • Lag­gan Bridge: Little fresh feed­ing but a scent mound was found.
  • Boat of Garten: No activ­ity seen this month.
  • Grant­own between the A95 bridge and the Cairn Dis­til­lery: Fresh activ­ity signs seen.
  • River Nethy (below the Telford bridge): Single beaver seen on cam­era. Scent mound and graz­ing signs found. Activ­ity in the Spey, close to Broom­hill bridge, seen by fishermen.

Mon­it­or­ing and Mit­ig­a­tion Plan Actions

  • Monthly patrols of release sites undertaken.
  • Weekly patrols of high impact areas have been undertaken.
  • Beaver dam remov­al site. No activity.

Rais­ing Aware­ness and Understanding

  • Out­side In, beaver walk and talk, Glen­more. 9 July.

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.