At Last Beavers are Back In Cornwall

 Officially...

Because there was an unlicensed release of two Beavers, back in 2022 at Breney Common and they now have two Kitts of their own. So the existing population is already four and with the release announcement yesterday of two further pairs by Cornwall Wildlife Trust yesterday that makes eight in total. Brilliant news for nature, conservation and the environment! Why is this brilliant news? Well, Beavers are a Keystone species who manage wetland creating habitat for wildlife, reducing pollution and flooding in the process. They are industrious creatures and the two already at Breney common have now created an 11 hectare area of wetland in just a few years. So we can expect great things of the four now also released as they start to create their trademark dams. Of course the release also creates a lot of responsibility on the Trust to work in partnership with farmers, landowners and other interest groups in safely managing this introduction. There is a lot of work ahead. I am proud to be a part of that in a small way as I work one day a week at Helman Tor as part of the Trust's Volunteer Work Group doing practical conservation tasks to help with the process of optimising the area for nature. Of course, from a photography viewpoint there are potential opportunities ahead to not only photograph the Beavers themselves (shy elusive creatures that they are) but also the increased diversity of plants, invertebrates, aquatic creatures, birds and mammals that will be attracted to the changed environments that they create. 

Official release video