EAGER BEAVERS

A new study, part-funded by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, has found that modification of Scottish river habitats by Eurasian beavers helps fish in small upland streams. The research shows that by building dams in shallow streams, the beavers create deeper pools that increase availability of suitable habitat and abundance of food – benefiting brown trout, which are a commercially and ecologically important species. As a result of beaver activity, the trout tended to be larger. www.gwct.org.uk