How was the turkey? Ours was barbecued and strangely delicious! There was a huge table that barely fit all the guests and last year’ infant was fascinated by holding this year’s infant for a while. It was a family kind of day, and we were all thankful for it. I started the morning by adding titles to the headers on the website. I like them a lot, what do you think?

In the mean time there’s more detailed story on the river otter beaver population growing this year, I’m not sure what gives them confidence that they have the count correct, because we watched our beavers very closely with an accurate count of new kits nine years out of ten. That one pesky year we were VERY surprised to find out in July there was one more kit than we thought we had.

Boom time for beavers on the Otter

Six new babies born this year

“Beaver kits are born in May and we know that at least two female beavers gave birth in the trial area in 2017,” Stephen Hussey from the trust said.

“The beaver family living in the lower part of the River Otter is thriving. In 2016 the adult pair produced a remarkable five kits. “These one year olds were mostly still in the same area in 2017 – young beavers begin to move further afield to establish their own territories at the age of two years.

“This year the adult female gave birth to another four surviving kits. Once they’d learned to swim, at the age of a month or so, these kits were seen exploring the river on their own, as well as clambering over their parents and feeding on bankside plants.

“Just as in 2016, the female beaver and her kits proved a very popular wildlife-watching attraction this summer, from the public footpaths on this well-used section of the river, near Otterton.”

In May last year the wildlife trust and project partners introduced an additional male and female beaver to a private site where suitable beaver habitats had been identified. In their first year on this site on a tributary of the River Otter, the beavers have been very active, creating a number of dams around the release pond.

Photos from cameras installed around the site show this beaver family has doubled in number – two kits have been recorded moving confidently around the release site since July 2017. Camera traps have picked up lots of interesting behaviour, including interaction with other mammals.The River Otter Beaver Trial receives no government funding and relies on donations.

Why we are seeing these stories now. It’s November in England too right? Well I’m happy that England is cheerfully counting its beavers after they’re hatched because it raises interest and keeps people attentive to the changes these animals make. The article has a lovely video of mom (I’m guessing) Mrs, Bob and two kits. Click on the link to visit the site and watch.