How are the beavers settling in?

Delta Pit has been the place to be these past few weeks as staff, volunteers, and visitors all try to catch a glimpse of the beavers! We’ve been blown away by kind words exchanged on the reserve and online, as both ourselves and the beavers get used to a new way of life.

What happened after the release?

The release went smoothly and within an hour of arriving on site the Beavers had left their crates, swam into the water and started exploring their new home.

We had built an artificial lodge to provide them with shelter during the first few days and put out food, parsnips and sweet potatoes, to supplement the abundant willow

We then left them in peace to get to know their new surroundings.

How have they been monitored?

We’ve put out a number of trail cams (sponsored by Graf UK) around the site to try and keep an eye on them, both from a health point of view and to give us an idea of where they were spending their time.

Through a combination of the trail cam footage and on the ground monitoring, we’ve enjoyed watching them get to know the site and settle in.

Not sure about the Beavers but we certainly didn’t get much sleep those first few evenings as we checked the cameras to see what they were up too.

A beaver captured by a trailcam as it sits atop some straw at night

What have you seen on the cams?

During the first few evening/nights we regularly saw them back at the release point as well as in the artificial lodge, particularly the adults and kits. Whilst the yearlings (kits born in 2023) were quickly seen further afield. Activity often started around dusk with peaks between 10pm and 2am. Now they have been on site a couple of weeks activity around the artificial lodge has decreased and we assume they have built their own lodge else where on site – we’ve been looking but haven’t found it yet!

As they’ve settled and grown accustomed to the site the beavers are steadily becoming more active earlier in the day, with some in-person sightings noted just as the sun starts to set between 5 – 5:30pm. As the days become longer the chances of seeing them out in the water increase, though they are secretive creatures, and these sightings will be limited.

What signs of activity have you seen across the reserve?

We’ve also walked the more accessible boundaries of the lake to see where else the Beavers have been up to. We’ve seen a large number of gnawed sticks as well as cut willow branches. They also seem to be enjoying the bark of ash trees too.

Where can people keep up to date?

We’ve been downloading the best of our trail cam footage and posting on our website and social media.

Visit the Project Beaver webpage

Anything else?

The positivity we’ve received these past few weeks from members, visitors, wardens, media, and staff has been incredible. As we check the fences, it’s not uncommon to be stopped by 3 or 4 inquisitive visitors asking “How are the beavers? How many are there? What are your plans for the future?” With the recent news of wild release licenses being issued by Natural England, we couldn’t be happier to be part of the conversation and can’t wait to see what impact they make over the next year and beyond.