Tag: Devon Wildlife Trust

Are you saturated with good beaver news yet?

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and Ice, Beavers and Insects, Beavers and trout, Beavers and water, Beavers elsewhere, Who's saving beavers now? June 20, 2017

beaver and gbh — *Beaver and Great blue heron: Rusty Cohn*

It’s getting to be a pretty beautiful time for beavers. We have wonderful stories floating out of Cornwall, Canada and California. Need icing on your cake? Rusty of Napa just photographed one of his beavers carrying a rock to reinforce the dam. Just remember you saw it here first!

After all the excited prodding to broaden the beaver started naturally in Devon, the Wildlife Trust used some crowd sourcing and pointed messaging to get some new beavers released on farmland there. Derek Gow was excitedly posting photos of the release of one of his yearlings and it looks like a hundred photographers showed up for the event.

Beavers have been returned to Cornwall after being hunted to extinction

A partnership between the Cornwall Wildlife Trust and the Woodland Valley Farm has now reintroduced them, hoping not only to bring back the much loved creature back to its natural habitat, but also help keep create new wildlife habitat.

Farm owners, Chris and Janet Jones have spent three and a half years working towards the release, which they hope will help to combat severe flooding that the area has suffered over recent years and help enhance the wildlife.

A Crowdfunder campaign was also set up to make sure that the project could go ahead. A total of £15,000 was raised to pay for the installation of the 650m beaver-proof fence.

*The new kit: Photo and beaver thanks to Derek Gow*

Two European beavers, one male and one female, have now been reintroduced to the farm in Ladock near Truro.

Farm owner Chris said: “It was one of the best days of my life with the release of a pair of adult European beavers at our site near Ladock. The whole day progressed with excitement building up until we actually let the beavers out of their crates at 4pm, in bright warm sunshine.

“The beavers seemed to be enjoying exploring their new home, and the assembled witnesses were fascinated at having such a tremendous view of these normally shy and hard to spot animals.

“It has taken three and a half years to get this point, and followed from my thinking about natural ways to reduce flood risk following the flooding incidents in Ladock in 2012. Cornwall Wildlife Trust has been brilliant partners in getting this project off the ground, and the Crowdfunding campaign, without which we could never have got here.”

The results of the study are hoped to show whether beavers could help Cornwall combat flooding. If so, there could be a possibility of beavers once again returning to their native land to live wild in Cornwall.

Well, good luck to the second beaver brigade in Devon! Of course there would be important news about beavers from the home of my ancestors, because why the heck not?

Now on to the bigwig anthropologist in Canada who took some time to promote his upcoming TED talk to mention about Elephants and Lions to mention the animal the country should love best. And I’ll give you a hint. It ain’t the polar bear.

Going Wild with anthropologist Brian Keating

Honourary Conservation Advisor, Calgary Zoological Society and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Calgary Brian Keating was the featured speaker at a very well attended event at Heritage Acres on the evening of June 9. His presentation, titled ‘In Our Backyard, The Last of the Great North American Plains’ was hosted by Livingstone Landowners Group (LLG). LLG board member Kevin Van Tighem acted as MC for the occasion.

Keating’s talk was interspersed with several videos that he narrated live, covering a small portion of his travels to over 49 countries, and one from his own riverfront yard in Calgary following the fearless construction efforts exploits beavers there. He also gave a warm recommendation for the book ‘The Beaver Manifesto‘ by University of Alberta Professor of Environmental Science Glynnis Hood. “Every Canadian needs to read this book, because the beaver represents us,” said Keating, explaining beavers change the landscape around them and create biodiversity.

HA! You don’t say, Brian. I think saying every Canadian should read it is thinking just a little too small, don’t you?

Here are the lovely promised rock-setting photos by Rusty Cohn of Napa, along with one of my all time favorites. I decided to do them as a gallery so you can see the sequence. Double click on a photo to see it full sized. And Thank you Rusty

And here’s looking at you, kit.

seeing nose to nose — *Here’s looking at you, kit: Photo Rusty Cohn*

Doctorate in Beaver

heidi08 Beavers December 19, 2015

Apparently the Devon Wildlife Trust is sponsoring a PhD candidate to study its beavers. Hmm. Here’s hoping that bringing in the science signals actual learning curves for the Devon beavers, although there’s been plenty of it done already, and we all know how effective that was.

Otter beavers PhD for Hugh

image[1] — **A PhD geography student is on the case to assess the impact of the River Otter’s beavers – England’s only wild colony for hundreds of years.**

The University of Exeter and the Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) teamed up to recruit Hugh Graham, a geographer who is returning to academia after a year in industry. Their work could one day influence government policy on the animal’s reintroduction, but they will need the support of other enthusiasts to make it happen.

“It’s very much an interesting topic for me,” said Hugh. “I do a lot of fishing and kayaking and spend a lot of time on rivers. “It’s a good opportunity to look at how they impact on river life. It encompasses a lot of what I’m interested in – I’m excited to see them.”

The DWT has plenty of biological and ecological expertise, so Hugh said he was ‘filling in the blanks’ from a geographical standpoint. Hugh will look at the beavers’ physical effect on the river, studying the hydrology and the changing shape of the banks, as well as their impact on vegetation and insect life. They have been known to coppice willow trees to promote growth, and their dam-building can help to improve water quality.

The instinctive behaviour can also reduce the risk of flooding, but Hugh said the animals are unlikely to build on the River Otter, as they only tend to do so in shallow water when they feel unsafe.

HUGH! Welcome to the beaver team! I can only hope that your year in industry wasn’t making hats or perfume. I’m fairly certain that if you actually look at the effect of beavers over time and report what you learn you’ll get a positive view of their return.

Here’s hoping!

And some seasonal (and yes I said season, deal with it) cheer from our beaver friends at OAEC.

Rally and Defend

heidi08 Beavers and Birds, Beavers and Frogs, Beavers and salmon, Beavers and trout, City Reports, Creative Solutions, Environmental, featured, Friends of Martinez Beavers, Who's saving beavers now? January 4, 2015

“Race against time” to raise £20,000 needed to secure beaver family’s future on River Otter

AFTER staggering £30,000 was raised in three weeks, a leading conservation charity is appealing for help to raise the remaining £20,000 needed to secure the future of a family of River Otter wild beavers.

A public meeting has been arranged by Natural England in Ottery St Mary this month and public support has been dubbed “vital” in securing their return to the river banks near the town. Backed by East Devon MP Hugo Swire, the Devon Wildlife Trust applied for a licence from Natural England for their re-release in October.

The licence would give the charity permission to set up a five year monitoring project called the River Otter Beaver Trial. The project will oversee the population, range and health of the beavers and the effect they have on the local landscape and people.

It will focus on the beavers’ impact on wildlife, vegetation, water flow, water quality, communities and infrastructure. But it will cost around £50,000.

Devon is leaping into action to save its beavers, and I couldn’t be happier. As I am that beaver instigator Derek Gow will be coming with Paul and Louise Ramsay to the State of The Beaver Conference! We might even lure them over for a barbecue when its all finished.

Let it be clearly said that it all started with the farmer who had the foresight to let an environmentalist install a night cam. None of this would have been possible without that. People care about what they can see. And the media never does anything without a good photo. These were the very best beaver photos in 5 centuries. Think about that.

We have had a number of donations, some as large as several thousand pounds, and this shows the depth of feeling out there.

“But we now have a race against time to secure the remaining amount to ensure a viable longer term project and enhance the chances of the beavers having a longer term future on the River Otter.”

The public meeting will take place on Wednesday, January 14, at 6.30pm, Ottery St Mary Scout Centre on Winters Lane.

You can add to their donations here:

the countryside of my ancestors, and I hope that meeting is even more crowded than the first. But in my head – from a strictly pragmatic view – it has been wonderful for beavers everywhere that DEFRA has been such monstrous idiots about this whole process. I have loved reading people extol beaver benefits from all over Europe and even Australia. Having something to prove has been amazing for the beaver public image. I’ll almost be sorry to see it go.

Almost.

I’m looking forward to what happens next. In the mean time, I spent yesterday working on adding a Napa section to my urban beaver talk for Oregon. Rusty Cohn was kind enough to give me great photos and I think it shows elegantly the vibrant effect of beavers on a neglected city creek.

Good things come in threes

heidi08 Beavers elsewhere, Creative Solutions August 15, 2013

Beavergate in Cornwall Ontario One Year Later – It was a Success! Clear Guindon Park Waters with no Flooding!

CFN – What a difference a year makes. When we started the Beavergate Protest we never expected that the devices placed in the Guindon Nature Park in Cornwall Ontario would have such dramatic results.

Funded fully by Lesley Fox and her Fur Bearer Defenders organization the road to clearer waters and healthier habitat were started by Wyatt Walsh pictured above.

Beavergate in Cornwall Ontario One Year Later – It was a Success! Clear Guindon Park Waters with no Flooding! Saved under Community, Cornwall, Cornwall Area Politics, GREEN News, Headlines, News, Ontario, Politics

Instead of signs that dogs and small children can’t read there is lush green. Mr. Walsh had one abortive attempt after contacting the Standard Freeholder go on deaf ears before CFN became active in trying to find a solution.

Our request for a 90 day moratorium on trapping to the City last year resulted in the traps being moved next to the lodge and wiping out the family of beavers lived.

That’s when local activist and musician Rebecca Sorrell entered and then with some media momentum and help from Lesley Fox and her organization oiula!

Congratulations Cornwall on moving your powers that be into a better beaver management strategy. It is hard, hard work changing hearts and minds, and we know that in Martinez. You might remember that Mike Callahan went and did an on site training with FBD Adrian Nelson to get the job done. If you listen to the video you can hear Donna Dubreuil in the background because she was there for the installation. This was a triumph for beaver friends in Canada, and it nice to remember their victory a year (and a month) later.

Mike Callahan & Adrian Nelson at the Guidon Nature Park Installation

Congratulations everyone!

On to this lovely beaver birth announcement from Devon, England where some fenced-in beavers are welcoming some new family members. Click here for an excellent BBC description & video of the event.

Devon wetland beavers have baby

Two beavers in a secure fenced-off area in west Devon have had a baby.

The animals are part of a three-year experiment by the Devon Wildlife Trust at a secret location to see if the animals can help restore wetland areas.

The baby beaver – or kit – is believed to be only a few weeks old, but it is not known if it is a male of female, project staff said.

Mark Elliot, from the trust, said staff were “thrilled”

Congratulations Devon! Mark is the coordinator for a group called “Working Wetlands” and I can see he’s headed for great beaver things.

Finally a nice reprisal in the Record yesterday of our beaver-extravaganza. Looks like mostly the same article with some tenses changed, but very nice to see again. Enjoy!

Kits show up for Beaver Festival VI in Martinez

New beaver kits appeared in Alhambra Creek recently, just in time for the Aug. 3 Martinez Beaver Festival. It was a time for family fun and an easy way to discover some secrets of urban wildlife.

The festival, in its sixth year, has grown appreciably. This year’s event, near the Amtrak station, featured wildlife experts, artists, entertainers, teachers and scientists, plus guided creek tours, games, hands-on projects, 41 display booths, music and information on the beavers, fish, otters, birds and vegetation surrounding beaver construction sites.

Which obviously begs the question: When will Cornwall & Devon be planning their first beaver festival? The world is waiting.

Beavers: Far & Near!

heidi08 Beavers, Beavers elsewhere August 23, 2012

Remarkable introduction to Devon Beavers Beaver project from the Devon Wildlife Trust. This is as good a way to introduce beavers as I can think of, and the delight in the announcers voice when she actually SAW the first beaver brought tears to my eyes. I promise you that this recent BBC video is well worth your time. (It was processed and put on youtube by our old friend Peter Smith of the Wildwood Trust and he added his own special additions for the Free Tay beavers.) Enjoy!

Meanwhile, our historic prevalence of beavers in the Sierras paper(s) will appear in the next issue of Fish & Game which is now online. Now we are hard at work at part 2 which is beavers in coastal streams. There was a conference call this week with the key players in that project and Brock and Kate were able to secure funding from the Nature Conservancy for the Sonoma part of that research as part of their larger ‘bring back coho campaign’. Check out this finding from the Fort Ross library of an account to general Vallejo in 1833:

The next valley we crossed is situated three leagues from Bodega. It is called Sayomi. Sayomi has an abundance of year around water and is surrounded by well irrigated lands with timber. About four leagues onward is found a valley called Liuantiyomi. Its creeks form large marshes which are filled with beaver, unlike other places where only vestiges of them remain because of the foreign hunters. Liuantiyomi is located west of the valleys of Santa Rosa and Jaquilliyomi, and appears to have the best environment for the founding of a town.

Of course once he received that report Vallejo was off to see for himself, so we have his translated report as well! We’re close to pinning down the exact location, somewhere between Sebastopol and Occidental as a league was ‘as far as a man could walk in an hour’ but it makes for a exciting detective novel. Although not as exciting as this ‘false lead’ which I found in a this report from father Manuel Venegas 1739 after his trip to some islands in Baja California:

With regard to amphibians, many beavers are also found around the island. Since these sleep in the sea close to the beach with their feet skyward, to hunt them, the Indians trap them while they sleep. They go into the water, knock them on the head with a stick, and with a line of cordage drag them to the beach already dead. Other times, they kill them with their arrows, when the beavers come to shore, or get very close to it.

Don’t you just love the idea of beavers as amphibians? Or sleeping with their feet in their air? Sadly as much as I enjoyed his account he was obviously talking about Sea Otters even though he used the spanish “Castores“ and everything. Clearly the word “beaver” just meant “Furry animal whose coat I wanna sell” and it could be applied everywhere. We’ll keep looking!

And a reunion at the beaver dam last night with several Worth A Dam members gathered to see the kit emerge from above the primary dam. Did he have a sleepover with his aunt to give his parents the night off? Apparently Moses said he’s seen it before, but its the first I’ve heard of it. Nice photos from Cheryl