After weeks of anticipation, we are delighted to report the birth of at least five beaver kits in the Cairngorms National Park.

Summer is breeding season for the beavers, so our team and volunteers have been on “kit watch”, keeping a close eye on signs of new life near their lodges. 

So far, five new arrivals have been captured on our camera traps at two separate sites, with hopes high that other breeding pairs may also have been successful.

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The new arrivals, less than two years after the first beaver releases in the Cairngorms National Park, are a positive step towards our ambition to establishing a healthy, sustainable population. 

It is also a clear indication that the beavers are thriving in the rich wetland and lochan habitats of the Upper Spey catchment. 

Jonathan Willet, Beaver Project Manager at the Cairngorms National Park Authority, said: “It’s so exciting to see the new kits emerging from the burrow, exploring the habitat around them with their parents and splashing in the water. We’re hopeful that there may be even more kits at other sites, which we are monitoring closely over the next few weeks. 

“Kits usually stay with their family for two years before leaving the family unit to find a mate. Those who were born last year – the first beaver kits in the Cairngorms National Park for 400 years – are now healthy juveniles, who will be ready to start exploring and finding mates of their own over the next year. 

It’s heartening to see that this year’s breeding season has also been a success.”
Beavers are considered ‘nature’s engineers’ with an incredible ability to rework, restore and re-naturalise the landscape, helping combat climate change and boost biodiversity. 

We are working with land managers interested in having beavers on their land to identify sites for the third round of beaver releases in the autumn – in line with our five-year licence from NatureScot – alongside our routine monitoring.