Baby Beavers Back in Devon!
At Last! Baby Beavers Back in Devon
The waiting is over: the pair of European Beavers at Escot Park has produced two babies, known as kits. The parents were originally from Bavaria and are now three years old. They met for the first time in 2007 when they were introduced to their two acre home of ponds, grassy banks and woodland at Escot Park since when they have become inseparable. But when would they become parents?
Hopes were raised at the end of April when they built a new dam on their stream. Beneath, in the deep pool created by the new dam lay the entrance to a well disguised new lodge whose main chamber was up above ground, well covered by branches and vegetation.
At the end of May we heard shuffling within the lodge and just once or twice puppy-like yelps as if someone was vying for a feed. Neither parent was travelling far from the lodge, at least not during our twilight group beaver watches. Just once we saw the female's tummy as she reached up to nibble some willow leaves and we could see that she was lactating.
By mid June she was dragging willow branches and soft rushes into the lodge. This meant that the weaning process for the kits had probably begun because beavers are fully vegetarian, eating soft cellulose in summer (grass, bank side water plants and leaves) and then gradually switching to hard cellulose during the autumn (roots, tubers, tree bark, and wood).
Then on 23rd June in the early evening their keeper spotted a kit on the edge of the pool immediately outside its lodge. He watched it for ten minutes or so, no parent in sight, before it swam out in front of the lodge. There, after a couple of failed duck dives, he saw it master the technique and disappear back into its lodge.
For several days there were no further kit sightings, although both parents were seen regularly each evening. Then just before dark on 7th July, Escot's owner John-Michael Kennaway noticed what seemed to be the two adults grooming each other on a bank. When the male slid into the water the female remained, and there, now visible, was a kit suckling from her. Watching, enthralled, Mr. Kennaway was suddenly aware that although the male was in the pool in front of him, there was now a fourth, smaller head swimming straight towards him. Within moments this little beaver, resembling a wound up clockwork toy with a flat paddle sewn on behind, scuttled up the bank within feet of him, slid down the other side, and with a ‘plop' disappeared under water back to the lodge.
European beavers are extinct in the wild in Britain but there are moves to reintroduce them to our waterways. Meanwhile these endearing nocturnal creatures can be seen an hour before dark by booking an Escot Beaver Watch appointment.
Contact Escot Park on 01404 822 188.
To view images of the beavers, please visit our website's Image Gallery or you can contact the photographer directly:
Ben Lee
Ben Lee Photo Imagery
e-mail: bkl@benleephoto-imagery.co.uk
Right content
- Excellent, fun packed day! The Play Barn is certainly a great addition!
Jane from Exmouth