Photo: Steve GardnerNorwegian beaver love in Scotland
Last updated: 18/08/2010 //
Norwegian-born beavers have given birth to two beaver babies - the first ones to be born in the wild in Scotland for over 400 years.
Eleven beavers from Telemark in Norway were brought to Scotland last year, as part of the Scottish Beaver Trial scheme. Set out in Mid Argyle in 2009, the Norwegian beavers seem to have enjoyed the romantic landscape surrounding them in Knapdale Forest as two beaver knits, now around eight weeks old and about the size of a large guinea pig, were discovered last week by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s beaver field officer Christian Robstad.
“Seeing the Trial’s newborn beaver kits was really amazing,” says Robstad. “Increasingly in the last few weeks, staff and volunteers have seen more evidence that there were young around and tracking activities were stepped up. After weeks of patient observation, we were finally rewarded with not just one kit being spotted but a second kit from a different family group as well. The first emerged as part of a ‘family outing’ with its parents and older sister close by to offer additional protection. It kept close to the edge of the loch and called out to its family for reassurance while it began to learn to forage for food.”
Before the first beaver family was brought out to Knapdale last year, the Scottish scheme stumbled upon numerous difficulties; six of the wild beavers flown in from Norway in 2008 died in quarantine. Eleven beavers were eventually freed in Knapdale in 2009, but since then, three beavers have gone missing, with fears that one of them was deliberately shot. A new pair was released this May.
Simon Jones, the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Scottish Beaver Trial project manager, said: “Receiving confirmation of the presence of at least two beaver kits this year in Knapdale is a fantastic step forward for the Scottish Beaver Trial as we can now begin to see how a small reintroduced population starts to naturally establish itself in the wild.”
“Both these beaver families are real success stories, having settled into Knapdale very well. Both have built their own lodge and one family has had great success building a dam to access better food supplies. This has created a magnificent new area of wetland in which wildlife is now flourishing.”
“As beaver kits are very small, shy and look very similar to one another, there is a chance that even more kits have been born this year. We will be tracking our animals closely and hope to determine the exact number of kits produced as part of the Trial soon.”
Allan Bantick, Chair of the Scottish Beaver Trial Steering Group, said: “Conservationists and ecologists have campaigned for fifteen years for the return of the beaver to Scotland and thereby to correct the mistake of four hundred years ago when beavers were hunted to extinction. These births are small but significant steps in that direction.”