Experts at Cornwall Wildlife Trust were excited to glimpse baby beavers at the Helman Tor rewilding site in Cornwall. They believe these kits are the first on the site born to free-living beavers in the wild, rather than in enclosures.
“Beavers are back where they belong, in the wild,” says Cheryl Marriott, director of nature and people at Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
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But it wasn’t the sight of the kits that first alerted the experts to their presence. Before spotting one of the little ones in the corner of a frame of footage, they had heard strange noises on their camera trap video that sounded eerily like a human baby crying.
The last time they heard a strange noise on their camera traps, they had accidentally eavesdropped on a beaver farting.
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Seeing the arrival of wild babies shows that the rewilding site is working, they say, which is not only good for beaver populations but also the other animals that use these habitats. “They’re shaping the landscape in extraordinary ways,” says Marriott, “but this is just the beginning. To ensure a healthy, genetically diverse population in Cornwall, we need more beavers across more sites.”
“It’s a huge moment – a sign that the habitat the beavers have created is healthy and thriving enough to support the next generation,” says Laura Snell, conservation officer at Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
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