Monthly beaver update - June 2025

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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Beaver Update June 2025 Jonath­an Wil­let (1 July 2025)

Activ­ity

• Rothiemurchus (Lily Loch): Adult and last year’s kit seen this month. From the middle of June there has been reg­u­lar badger vis­its to the lodge, once with two Badgers
• Wild­land 1: Two, then three kits seen early in the month. Both adults seen
• Wild­land 2: Two kits seen on cam­era at this lodge. Both adults and last year’s kit seen. Lodge con­tin­ued to be added to
• Insh Marshes. No change on site. Two beavers caught on a resident’s trail cam­era at Kin­craig, mainly a male but one video of a female
• Wild­land 3: No change on site, still no sign of a lodge or burrow
• Wild­land 4: Up to 3 beavers seen dur­ing a watch in early June. Usu­ally just one seen at any one time
• Inshriach: No change on the site. Single beaver seen regularly
• Loch Mor­lich: A sus­pec­ted bur­row was loc­ated. Adult male beaver seen dur­ing the day in late June
• Aviemore: No recent 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 site was vis­ited on the 26 June, no cam­era trap foot­age of a beaver or obvi­ous feed­ing signs. Some old feed­ing signs, 3 small wil­low branches were repor­ted and sub­sequently con­firmed under the Gar­mouth Viaduct

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 recorded

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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• The canoe sur­vey of the Spey from the Spey Dam down­stream was delayed and will take place when the Spey has enough water
• All release sites, out­with RSPB Insh Marshes, are hav­ing weekly kit watches until the w/​b 21 July under­taken by the Beaver Pro­ject Man­ager or Officer and volunteers
• Par­tially col­lapsed bur­row repor­ted at Old Milton on the 28 June. the site was vis­ited on the 30 June and a week of cam­era trap mon­it­or­ing commenced

Rais­ing Aware­ness and Understanding

• 24 June. 10 Juni­or Rangers from Kin­loch­leven High School vis­ited the Lily Loch with Pete Short and all saw a beaver.
• 26 June, 8.30pm. STV Green Jobs pro­gramme fea­tured Pete Short and it was filmed at the Lily Loch, Rothiemurchus.
• https://​news​.stv​.tv/​s​c​o​t​l​a​n​d​/​b​e​a​v​e​r​s​-​b​o​g​l​a​n​d​s​-​a​n​d​-​g​r​e​e​n​-​j​o​b​s​-​n​a​t​u​r​e​-​b​a​s​e​d​-​w​o​r​k​-​s​o​a​r​s​-​i​n​-​s​c​o​tland
• https://​news​.stv​.tv/​c​l​i​p​/​h​o​w​-​m​u​c​h​-​d​o​-​y​o​u​-​k​n​o​w​-​a​b​o​u​t​-​b​e​avers

Meet­ings

• 11 June. Site vis­its around Loch Tay with Oliv­er Moore (Plant­life) to look at beavers and their impact on key lichen sites
• 18 June. Mon­it­or­ing and Mit­ig­a­tion Group meeting
• 25 June. Cairngorm Beaver Group Meeting