‘Lovely Woodland Creatures’

Yesterday Martinez had an Irma sympathy pang. In the evening it got muggy and humid, and then it started to rain! First a few drops at a time, and then a veritable short storm, complete with booming thunder. It was very unlike California in September but I mention it because at the exact moment it started to rain the mail was delivered and happened to contain a very special package all the way from the Ukraine. It was actually the first donation to next year’s  beaver festival from an Esty shop called Sho2Shop by Andrey Shokoto. He wanted to help but wrote back too late for this year. His design was such an irresistable pillow I had to buy one myself for a bday present.

He calls it “It’s raining beavers“.

Isn’t that adorable? It’s well made too, with a neatly disguised zipper so you can wash it or tuck in the cushion of your choice. Obviously, with this arriving the exact same moment as the very unusual storm, with the beavers moving in a block from my house, and with articles like this guaranteed to amuse me, I am starting to believe in beaver fate. Or as Hamlet said “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends”. You tell me if someone upstairs wasn’t thinking of Heidi’s feelings when he wrote a headline like this.

Beavers are no longer under suspicion for delaying the filming of the Twin Town sequel

Beavers are no longer under suspicion for delaying the long-awaited Twin Town sequel, with the blame now falling on an unknown group of teenagers. The cameras were due to begin to start rolling last week for the filming of the first scenes of the follow-up to director Kevin Allen’s cult ’90s original.

But the location earmarked for filming ended up submerged under four feet of water. Director Kev Allen was originally told that a rare colony of Carmarthenshire beavers were to blame.

It was thought they dammed up a contributory stream, causing water to swell onto the film set. Mr Allen said last week: “It’s the oddest thing I’ve come across in 20 years of film-making. Having spent months building one of the key sets for the movie, it has taken a bunch of beavers to screw up my filming schedule.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about beavers in 10 years, it’s that they are notorious for ruining film schedules. And the Welsh beavers – well they’re just the worst. Cluttering the set with all their chewed mossy sticks and vowel-less consonants!

But beaver experts were quick to call foul on the accusation.

Alicia Leow-Dyke, Welsh beaver project officer for Radnorshire Wildlife Trust, said: “Whilst the film set might be flooded, beavers are not to blame, I have worked with beavers for almost a decade and I am very familiar with beaver ecology.

 

No beavers have been reported living near Kidwelly. We have also been to investigate ourselves and found no evidence of beavers in the area.

“Beavers have characteristic field signs and beaver dams are easy to spot. If they were present it is extremely likely we would have found these field signs.

“The only beavers living in Carmarthenshire are in an enclosed area, upstream of

Kidwelly and on a different catchment that is nowhere near Kidwelly. The dams created by these beavers did not cause  flooding to the Twin Towns film set.

“It is also well evidenced that beaver dams actually decrease the risk of downstream flooding.”

Oooh snap! Dam straight! You tell ’em Alicia!

Director Mr Allen now believes a group of teenagers caused the damage.

He told WalesOnline: “We have actually learned over the weekend that it was in fact a group of teenagers who had built the sabotaging damn and not in fact beavers after all.

“Whoever blamed these lovely woodland creatures in the first place must have been unaware that beaver has been pretty hard to come by in Kidwelly for quite some time. I personally blame the parents.”

Hahahaha…Me too! I blame the parents too! Ohhh I dearly love this article and the fact that the troubled director in his fancy car actually calls the beavers lovely woodland creatures. I love Alicia’s defense and love the refreshing idea of blaming the parents instead of the beavers. Honestly, if I were dreaming I couldn’t have asked for a better story.

Speaking of getting what you wished for, here are some of Cheryl’s wonderful photos from Sunday’s labor. I especially love the tippytoed beaver, but they’re all perfect. And see how those rascally parents are helping their children cheat?