Monthly Beaver Update - May 2025

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ùgh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

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Beaver Update May 2025 Jonath­an Wil­let (2 June 2025)

Activ­ity • Rothiemurchus (Lily Loch): Single beaver seen on the 23 May. Kit watches start­ing in mid-June • Wild­land 1: Single beaver reg­u­larly seen on a cam­era at the lodge. Lodge being added to. Aspen con­tinu­ing to be gnawed, it will likely hang-up in the adja­cent trees when felled, provid­ing good hab­it­at for Aspen Hov­er­fly • Wild­land 2: Two adult beavers seen on three vis­its this month, pos­sibly also a 1 year-old seen. Recent lodge adding-to activ­ity • Insh Marshes. No change on site. One pair with a ter­rit­ory just out­side the reserve have a lodge and were seen tak­ing leafy branches into it on the 15 May. It is highly likely this was to feed kit(s) • Wild­land 3: No change on site, still no sign of a lodge or bur­row • Wild­land 4: Plenty of activ­ity on the site, feed­ings signs show­ing explor­a­tion 6km from the release site. This is nor­mal beha­viour • Inshriach: No change on the site. Beaver seen on the 8 May pulling leafy branches through the water to the bur­row. It is highly likely this was to feed kit(s) • Loch Mor­lich: No change on site. A beaver was spot­ted in the morn­ing of the 21 May and even­ing of 27 May, on Loch Mor­lich, close to the release site. A beaver was seen graz­ing on a bank of the inflow river to Loch Mor­lich at 8.45pm on the 31 May • Aviemore: No recent activ­ity recor­ded • Kin­gussie Graz­ings: Licence to fill in the bur­row gran­ted. Bur­row filled in by the own­er on the 27 May

Sites out­with Kin­gussie to Aviemore • Crom­dale beaver kit. Still present on site • Fochabers beaver. The site was vis­ited on the 29 May, there are still signs of very recent beaver activ­ity • Spey Dam. Feed­ings signs close to the dam spot­ted dur­ing scrub clear­ance in March. The feed­ing signs cor­res­pond with the estim­ated age of the signs found at Lag­gan at the end of last month

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Page 2 of 2 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 • Kin­gussie Graz­ings orch­ard fence com­pleted using the weldmesh sup­plied by the Park Author­ity • The canoe sur­vey of the Spey from the Spey Dam down­stream was post­poned due to the very low water levels. It has been res­ched­uled for the end of June and July • All release sites, out­with RSPB Insh Marshes, are hav­ing weekly kit watches over this month under­taken by the Beaver Pro­ject Man­ager or Officer and some volunteers

Rais­ing Aware­ness and Under­stand­ing • 5 May. Beaver update for RZSS Staff. 18 • 14 May. Beaver intro­duct­ory talk to new intake of Park Author­ity Volun­teer Rangers. 29 • 15 May. Cairngorms Con­nect, skill shar­ing event at Kin­rara. 20 • 30 May. Site vis­it to Spey Dam with Jahama Estates, Jonath­an Hart. 3

Meet­ings • 28 May. Mon­it­or­ing and Mit­ig­a­tion Group meet­ing to dis­cuss flood embank­ment high impact criteria