EAGER BEAVERS
FOOTAGE SHOWS FURRY FAMILY LOVING THEIR NEW LIVES IN DERBYSHIRE
A FAMILY of beavers are loving their new lives in Derbyshire since being introduced in September last year
The pair, an adult male and female, were the first to be seen in Derbyshire for about 800 years, after being hunted to extinction in Britain during the 16th Century.
The Derbyshire beavers were born and bred in Scotland and brought to the village of Willington as part of a scheme by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to create a “wilder Derbyshire”, in the hopes of rebuilding beaver numbers.
The charity tracks the lives of the pair via videos they post on their Instagram account, although the animals are most active at night and are not always easy to find.
The new footage shows the habits of the beavers during summertime busily going about their business. Their diet is much more varied during the warmer months, with much more food available.
In the clip, one of the beavers is carrying a large branch from a tree back home to eat.
At one point, you see it dive under the water, taking the branch with it. This behaviour is what the trust refers to as the beavers “refrigerating” their food.
The branches will stay fresher under water, so the beaver will shove the cut end of the branch into the river bed to anchor it in place. It can then return to the branch later to feed on.
With plenty of foraging opportunities for the beavers and few, if any, natural predators in Derbyshire, it is hoped they will produce babies.
Kate Lemon, the trust’s manager for the Trent & Erewash region, says they are thrilled with the beavers’ progress.
“They’re great as a land management tool. We’ve had a willow problem here in Willington with it overgrowing due to the wetland, and they’ve been the best tool we’ve ever had,” she said. “They’ve stimulated loads of natural regrowth. “They’ve created a much more diverse natural habitat and microhabitats and we now see much more wildlife in these areas. “They’re a great example of nature looking after nature.” The Derbyshire pair were found in Tayside, Scotland, in September 2021 and after a period of quarantine and health checks at specialised facilities at Five Sister Zoo, they were carefully transported south by the Beaver Trust.
The formerly lost species has a five-kilometre enclosure within the 46-hectare reserve and will be carefully watched by volunteers and trail cameras at the site.
We’ve had a willow problem here in Willington and they’ve been the best tool we’ve ever had. Kate Lemon