2008 Beaver Diary
On the 14th April 2006 we started a beaver demonstration projec t. After a lot of research and consultations with experts we released a pair of beavers into a large 200 acre enclosure here at Aigas. These are the first beavers in their natural habitat in the Highlands for 450 years. The habitat is ideal for beavers, with a large freshwater loch and plenty of food in the form of their favourite trees (birch, willow and rowan) and vegetation (water lilies and horsetails) in the surrounding deciduous woodland.
As a member of the Scottish Beaver Network, this project’s aims are not to re-introduce beavers (although we hope that does happen in the future), but to demonstrate to the public and authorities that beavers are good for Scotland’s natural heritage. This will be achieved through;
1. Education – both adults and children are educated about the natural history and ecology of beavers on their visits to Aigas.
2. Monitoring – recording the developments of the beaver in their semi-natural environment.
3. Accessibility – visitors to Aigas get the opportunity to watch beavers in their natural environment with a qualified ranger.
4. Measuring biodiversity – we expect the biodiversity to increase as beavers are keystone species (they create habitats for other species).
Over the last two years we have had hundreds of visitors viewing and photographing these unique beavers in their ‘wild’ surroundings. Sometimes it is not only beavers that are seen on the loch, otters and ospreys are often seen on our beaver watches.
2006 Summary
Two beavers were released in April in a spacious man-made lodge. It didn’t take them long to find a new home. They re-located to the opposite side of the loch and build their own lodge almost straight away! Nevertheless in the long daylight hours of spring and early summer we got some great views of the adults grooming, feeding and swimming. Then on Friday 23rd June JLK accompanied by the eminent ecologist Roy Dennis spotted our first kit! This extract, written by JLK, from our diary portrays the excitement,
“We all saw the movement but none of us got a good enough view to be absolutely sure. Had it been an otter I think we would have seen it again, ditto a mink. Our best guess is that it was a beaver kit which emerged, perhaps for the first time, panicked and went back in (to the lodge) again”.
 It was named Willow and it became the first beaver born in the Highlands for over 450 years! As the months went by, Willow seemingly fearless, gave us wonderful close views. As winter approached the family started to prepare for winter by storing bark underwater in a cache. Most of this appeared to be directly in front of the lodge, making it easily accessible even when the loch is frozen. The lodge grew with sticks and mud being applied above, possible in an attempt to increase insulation.
To see the complete 2006 diary click here.
2007 Summary
The year got off to a flier with Johnny Kingdom and his crew arriving in late January to help construct a new hide closer to the action. By mid-February it was becoming clear that there was a new lodge appearing to the west of the original lodge. As it turned out this new lodge is directly opposite the new hide giving us a perfect viewing location! Sightings were made from 21st March onwards, and a viewing on 4th April by JLK prompted a suggestion of a pregnant beaver! A few days later we noticed two small dams had been built to flood a pool of water about 15m across. This was used to access small trees that had been flooded by the dam from the safety of the water. 
As the year went by the new lodge grew and on Friday 22nd June a new kit was spotted by Jenny and Phil! This was only 1 day earlier than last year!!! This year’s kit was named Aspen (photo right) and again took a starring role with the visitors allowing very close views. Aspen was also the star of Johnny Kingdom’s TV program “Johnny goes to Scotland” aired at Christmas.
To see the complete 2007 diary click here. Otherwise read on to find out what the beavers are doing this year!
If you would like to learn more about beaver ecology click here.
If you've got predictions, questions or comments about the beavers in 2007 please email them to ian@aigas.co.uk.
Sunday 28th April
With the aid of apples I managed to get a close look at the young beavers tonight. The two that came ashore were the same size for sure, and willow was sitting in the water for comparison. We have recently regularly seen the two young kits together feeding and swimming.
Saturday 27th April
Davy, Darrel and myself went to the hide and saw three beavers feeding in the common areas, under the dense willow shrub and on the bank near the dipping platform. Willow then came over to the hide and swam past very close, just a few metres away. He was just checking us out before calmly swimming to our right and getting out on the bank in the pinewood, this is the first time I have ever seen a beaver on the bank here as they don’t tend to eat conifers. I took a closer look and saw that they were eating common juniper! There is evidence of them eating juniper in the literature, although it is listed as only an occasional food. I certainly didn’t know they ate juniper and it seems they will eat almost any plant we have near to the loch here at Aigas.
Wednesday 16th April
Tonight was a busy night at the hide! Vicki took 4 Wildlife guests for a watch. They had good views of beavers from 8pm onwards. At 8:35pm the otter came out again at the bottom of the burn that feeds the loch and fed on toads again! At 8:40 a fox was spotted running across the moorland, pausing to scent mark as it went. By now there were 3 beavers showing well, and they were investigating the otters noisy feeding, from a distance!
Tuesday 15th April
JLK and 5 Wildlife guests went to the hide for a beaver watch. Willow was spotted at the bank to the left of the dipping platform, a well used feeding area at the moment. They also spotted an adult crocodiling on the water – a common occurrence recently by one individual. At 8:45pm another otter was spotted at the loch feeding on the toads!
Wednesday 9th April
JLK and LLK went to the loch and confirmed the 5 beaver sightings – it seems to be a very social time of the year!
Tuesday 8th April
A very interesting development on our beaver project was spotted tonight. Ieuan was on a watch with a group of Spring Birders on a fine, still evening. They arrived at 7:45pm and it only took 10 minutes to spot their first beaver swimming across the loch. Ieuan thought it was Willow, normally one of the first beavers to emerge, and it settled and started feeding under a willow bush. About 5 minutes later a second young beaver appeared, briefly interacted with “Willow” and then went and fed elsewhere. Then a third beaver emerged did the same as the second and fed next to the second, strangely these beavers looked similar in size, suggesting this too was a young beaver.
Then a 4th Beaver appeared and went ashore next to the two youngsters, but this beaver was much bigger, maybe twice the size of the others! This should be all of our beavers as we believe we only have 4 – 2 adults and 2 kits – willow from 2006 and Aspen from 2007. At this stage Ieuan joked that it would be funny if they saw another beaver –seeing four together is a real rarity and possibly a first. Then, with the four still in view another was spotted… a fifth beaver! This beaver was behaving differently and slowing swimming and crocodiling on the water surface.
This is very interesting. As it is very rare to see all the animals together we had never realised that we actually had two kits from the 2007 era! I checked our extensive notes from our beaver watches and last year on Sunday 19th August Jenny Grant wrote, “At one point I thought I saw 2 kits!”.
Monday 7th April
I went up to the loch again last night to try to get some more photos of the beavers. It was a beautiful evening after a wild day in the highlands and it turned into one of my best watches at the loch. When I arrived at 7:45pm the wind had dropped and the loch was like glass making the rising trout more obvious. As the sun went down I hid in the bushes about 10m behind my camera and the apple and carrot bait. Then at 8:20pm I saw the first beaver emerge from the nearby new lodge. It swam straight to the bait. Cautiously it sniffed the air – no doubt my scent was still prominent – before it emerged right in front of the camera. It was Willow, our first kit, a male now nearly 2 years old. He fed happily on the bank, always happy to get his photo taken!
 Then at 8:30pm a smaller beaver came out of the new lodge, this was Aspen, and he/she was keen not to miss out on the apples. As Aspen emerged, I half expected Willow to push the youngster away, but he was quite happy to share the food (See photo below taken tonight - Aspen on Left, Willow on right). Aspen then took a large carrot into the water and emerged on the bank 5m to the right. I could hear the munching but didn’t have a great view through the bushes! Willow stayed until 8:45pm before going to join Aspen. The two seemed reluctant to move. Morag, who was in the hide, gave me the answer why. She informed me of an OTTER less than 50m away. I scanned the waters edge and saw it!! She was right – the otter was splashing around enjoying the hundreds of toads that have congregated in the loch to lay their spawn.
As the beavers were waiting they started grooming each other! This is a first for me – I have never seen this behaviour before but it is recorded in the literature and appears to be an important part of social dynamics.
There was only a brief glimpse of an adult – I hope it is because we are nearing the birthing season, hopefully we have new kit(s) on the way!
Sunday 6th April
I decided to try to get some more close photos of beavers with my remote camera tonight. I had tried during the winter (see Nov 21st 2007) and had been successful, however their behaviour was less predictable. Now we have long evenings I hoped it would be easier. I was set up and hidden by 7:45pm and within 20 minutes I had a beaver investigating the apples and carrots. It swam up and down investigating the food and camera. I was trying to stay as still as possible, it was hard as my heart was beating fast, but luckily I was unnoticed. It was Willow – normally the first to the food! He came out of the water and went straight to the camera and had a good sniff! After he realised it was no threat he settled down to a good feed (See photo below taken tonight). By 8:45 I had seen our youngest beaver Aspen swim past and one of the adults swim near the far side, near to our viewing hide.
Wednesday 2nd April
Davy and Faith (two of our new rangers) went up for an early hide visit arriving at 6am. They had an hour of good views of 3 beavers both swimming and feeding out on the bank. The younger beavers went to bed in the new lodge and the adults to the old lodge.
Morag and I went up for an evening watch and took out one of the rowing boats. We saw all four beavers through the night, but it seemed like they all had emerged from the old lodge, so either the younger ones had swam around from the new lodge, or they had moved lodges at some stage of the day. We had good views of the adults investigating us in the boat. The four beavers were all feeding in different areas surrounding the boat, it was amazing, surround sound of munching noise!
Saturday 20th March
I think I spoke too soon (see wed 19th). We now have a good covering of snow on the ground. Although this may affect some wildlife, it won’t worry the beavers at all; they are still in their cosy thick fur which has survived the winter, so this is nothing!
Wednesday 19th March
I went up this morning with four wildlife week guests arriving at the now standard time of 05:45. Immediately we saw an adult beaver swimming left to right towards and then into the old lodge on the far side. Then we spotted another beaver  feeding out of the water on the bank, I set up our Swarovski scope, which gave us great views of the beaver gripping the branches and stripping the bark! Then it slipped into the water and had a little swim – it was a young beaver, I would guess Aspen (last year’s kit) as it was floating very high in the water. It dived for a few seconds, then re-appeared and went ashore again to eat the root it had just collected from the loch bottom. Again we got great close views in the scope. It then slipped into the water again and swam into the new lodge directly opposite. Then we spotted another adult swimming towards and into the old lodge to the right. It was all over by 06:15, but it was well worth getting up for. The light was perfect, it was great to see 3 beavers again… at last the winter appears to be over.
Tuesday 18th March
Donald went up with some of the wildlife week guests bright and early this morning. They arrived again at 05:45 trying to repeat the week’s success. At 05:50 a beaver was seen right in front of the hide, to the left on a nearby feeding station. Again excellent views.
Monday 17th March
Morag and I went on another evening watch, but again no luck.
Sunday 16th March
Things are starting to hot up with the beavers! It is the first day of our first wildlife  week of the year and the first beaver of the year was spotted by some early risers in the group! They arrived at the hide in the dark at 05:45 and caught a glimpse of a beaver in good light at 06:10, just after sunrise. It looks like the mornings are the way to go.
Friday 14th March
Morag and I went up to the loch this evening to try to spot an early beaver. Sunset is getting later, but we are still a little early to see beavers in daylight in the evenings. It was a wonderfully still evening, perfect to see beavers swimming even in poor light. We sat on the dipping platform and waited from about 18:40 until 19:00. We saw nothing. On our way back around the loch, we looked back and typically there was a beaver swimming only a few metres from the dipping platform, where we had just been sitting! It was however very dark and hard to make out any detail.
February
It has been a quiet month for the beavers. The days are slowly drawing out and the ice has now fully melted. The beavers have made some notable nibbling around the loch edge, but there has been no major felling or hydrological engineering. On a couple of occasions we have put some apples and carrots out in order to check for activity and hopefully get a glimpse. I spent a cold two hours by the loch one night in the hope one would emerge to take the food. Unfortunately, I saw nothing, but the carrots and apples were gone by the morning. By the last week of February Phil had been out with the torch at around 10pm and saw a beaver he identified as aspen, last years kit. Aspen still floats much higher on the water than the older beavers. Phil was the first to do a morning watch this year and it was successful too! He arrived at the loch just as it was getting light at 6:30am. There were two beavers, one was aspen again and the other an adult, both swimming to the old lodge on the far side of the loch. Last years first beavers weren’t spotted until the 21st of March in the evening, but with a bit of effort over the next few weeks, hopefully we will be able to see them regularly in the morning and the evening… I certainly can’t wait!!
Friday 18th January
We have had a very cold January here at Aigas. There has been a thin layer of ice  on the loch for most of the month and even snow settling on top (see photo left where Phil and Donald are walking on the ice!). This hasn’t stopped the beavers though. There are plenty of holes around the edge of the loch where they have been coming out of the water to feed (see right hand photo where ice has been pushed up from below), and I have also spotted at l  east one cut branch on top of the ice. This said, activity is must less obvious than it had been in the last few months of last year. Beavers are used to much colder temperatures and will come out of their snug lodges in temperatures as cold as -10 °C.
In other news The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) have submitted a licence application to the Scottish Government for a trial reintroduction of European beavers in Scotland. This comes after a long public consultation where 73% of respondents were in favour of a re-introduction to Mid-Argyll. Approval for the trial reintroduction would see fifteen to twenty beavers from Norway, following a period of quarantine, introduced to the trial site.
Allan Bantick, Chairman of the Project Steering Group and Trustee of the Scottish Wildlife Trust, said: “We are delighted that this licence application has now been submitted and we look forward to conducting a full scientific trial of the first formal reintroduction of a native mammal into the wild in the UK. The first beavers could be reintroduced to Mid-Argyll in spring 2009. Once we get the green light from the Scottish Government we will develop the detailed plan or the trial taking into consideration issues raised during the consultation.”
The Scottish Beaver Trial partnership hopes that the Scottish Government will make its decision in spring 2008 SO WATCH THIS SPACE!!!
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