The beaver diaries – December 2024
It’s a year to the day that beavers were first released into the Cairngorms National Park after an absence of more than 400 years. In our regular beaver blog, we caught up with Project Manager Jonathan and Beaver Rangers Emily and Rhona about what they’ve been up to in the last few months.
Jonathan: This year has flown by and it’s hard to believe that this time last year we were readying ourselves for the first arrivals. A lot has happened since then! Since our last beaver blog we’ve released four new families of beavers and we’re delighted to share that they are settling in nicely so far.
The beavers have amazed us in how quickly they have adapted to their new homes. They are famously fussy about the quality of their territories, so it is a good sign that we have selected the best release sites, with everything they need to be able to thrive.
Our monitoring and mitigation plan has been put to good use too. For example, we recently had a report of beavers building a dam in a drainage ditch which could have caused some flooding on agricultural land. Dams that are less than two weeks old can be removed without a licence so, in line with our plan, we were able to get to the site the same day and the dam was removed a day later. We will continue to monitor the site over the coming weeks to ensure these measures have been effective.
Unfortunately, it’s not all been positive news. One beaver kit – spotted early in November in Nethy Bridge, far from its recent release site – appears to have been separated from its family and swept downstream. Because of the unusual circumstances and accompanying welfare concerns, we were granted a licence to trap the kit to return it to its release location; however, unfortunately it has not been spotted since and is likely not to have survived. This is a sad end to the story, but it’s also worth remembering that some deaths of this kind are to be expected with wild animals.
There is a lot of monitoring work to do as part of this project, and I have been very lucky to have two rangers, Rhona and Emily, join me for the season to help out. I thought I’d ask them for a few reflections…
Rhona: By the time I joined the team several of this season’s beaver releases had already taken place, so I was straight in at the deep end doing site visits, feeding, monitoring and collecting footage from the camera traps. We’ve been out every day at the sites, looking for feeding signs like gnawed trees, piles of sticks with bark stripped, footprints, paths and canals. These signs tell us a bit more about what the beavers are doing in their territory and whether they are finding food.
Reviewing beaver video footage in the office
Now that the intensive daily monitoring period is nearly over we have moved to weekly monitoring, which means we have a bit more time in the office spent going through hours of camera footage. It’s so interesting to see the beavers, but it’s also been amazing to see all the other wonderful wildlife we’ve picked up on camera, including otters, woodcocks, wood mice, pine martens and even a water rail.
Emily: Part of what makes this role so exciting is how much there is to learn about beavers in this landscape, having been missing for more than 400 years. It’s been superb to see their tracks in the snow and signs of their activity in the Cairngorms once more.
As rangers we provide boots on the ground to be able to check out and assess areas and reports of beaver activity. This means we can see how territories are expanding, and also see if there are any issues that might need to be picked up in our monitoring and mitigation plan. As time goes on more members of the public have helpfully shared signs with us and, when they do, we’ve been able to respond quickly and head along to see what’s happening.
I’m looking forward to reviewing all the video footage over the winter to see what beavers get up to while no one’s around and we’ll be sharing some of the camera trap footage on the Cairngorms National Park social feeds, so make sure to follow for updates.