UNVEILING THE BEAVER BUS

This amazing creation was shared yesterday on the beaver management forum. Apparently it is the “Beaver Bus” that will be touring England soon. I have never been so jealous in all my life.

Apparently it’s a refurbished horse trailer funded in part by the Lower Mill Estate in England. I assume it’s a project of the Beaver Trust but I haven’t yet confirmed that. In the meantime I’ll just share what was said about it:

We recently welcomed @cotswoldlakestrust to the Estate to help them unveil their ‘Beaver Bus’. This converted horse box was created as an education trailer to teach the local community about beavers and a whole host of other animals that choose to call the Cotswolds home.Lower Mill Estate is proud to have contributed to the development of this fantastic educational resource.The beaver bus will be travelling around the Cotswolds at schools and events, so if you are in the area, keep an eye out and see if you can spot it!

How cool is that?

I am glowing with admiration and green with envy.

THE RETURN OF THE BEAVERS

I was thrilled to come across this yesterday. Make sure to watch it and share with all of your contacts. Then explain to me how it is this came out in May and I never saw it until now?

SO CLOSE AND YET SO FAR

heidi08 Beaver Art October 9, 2023

Readers of this website will know that I am a devoted fan of Lizzie Harper a botanical illustrator from Wales who has donated to our festival in the past and is the illustrator for UK audubon. and the national gallery, and created amazing wetlands illustration that I frequently reference and borrow from in my beaver creations. It is my fondest dream that some day soon Wales will allow beaver reintroduction and Lizzie Harper will be tapped to do a beaver ecosystem illustration for the Welsh Beaver Trust or Cardiff University or some big spending patron that we all benefit from. Well this weekend in my annual hunt for beaver illustrations I came across this:

I was of course over the moon that is until I tore off to her website and found that it was an illustration for a book in 2022 and bears this description:

Beavers Castor canadensis with beaver dam. Illustration based in Tierra del Fuego, where introduced beavers have damaged the closed ecosystem. Illustration from The Hidden Universe: Adventures in Biodiversity by Alexandre Antonelli

Good lord. So close and yet so far. I was kinda wondering why it looked so bleak. I guess know I know why. They are still beautiful illustrations. I guess she has to practice on something. It might as well be the notoriously bad beavers of Chile while she’s waiting…

THEN THEY LAUGH AT YOU

heidi08 Beaver Art, Beavers October 2, 2023

They went 400 years without these jokes so I guess it’s understandable. The great British bake off featured a show stopping beaver recently and hilarity ensued. It’s okay, Martinez has been there. We had our share of beaver jokes. Just remember

First they ignore you
Then they laugh at you
Then they fight with you
Then you win.

‘The Great British Bake Off’ Returns With Cake Week And Even More Innuendo

“Tell us about your beaver” ?

INSIDE A BEAVER POND

heidi08 Attitudes towards beavers, Beaver Art, Beavers September 7, 2023

September is my birthday month. It has always held an air of excitement with the faintest whiff of fall in the air. So it seemed completely appropriate that this new book just arrived on my doorstep. I couldn’t wait to dive in.

The author is Becky Cushing Gop, the head of Massachusetts Audubon West Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary which jostled my mind to remember that one of the very first photos sent to me by Mike Callahan in my panicked trying-to-save-beavers days was a flow device install he had done for them back in the day.

The artist is Missouri based illustrator Carrie Shryrock and while her beavers aren’t exactly as breathtaking as Kay Undwewood or Gerry Wykes (Probably because given her location she hasn’t spent hours and hours in their presence) her style of dynamic panels does a fantastic job of engaging and telling the story.

The book is full of accurate ecosystem details like what beavers eat and what birds live in their habitat. At the end there is even a glossary of terms and an invitation to go back through and find the included species.

The book is hardbound and oversized so it’s not cheap but it is a beautiful beaver guide for any child or any adult wanting to teach about why beavers matter to the ecosystem.