Beavers Return
Is it true what they're saying?
I walked 30 minutes from my house because I wanted to know if what I'd heard was true! Are beavers really living so close to me? A species absent from our land for over 400 years, they were first reintroduced on the River Otter a mere 6 miles away and have, in fact, got very close to where I live with clear beaver activity at Devon Wildlife Trust’s Bystock Pools. Visiting in the day, I had no expectation of seeing one but it was still an awe-inspiring experience seeing trees they have felled. Never did I expect to be so excited to see a fallen tree!
I plan to return again and again to see how the beavers change this landscape and maybe, when I'm not so tired, I'll be able to get up early to go beaver watching and may even be lucky enough to see one, as a neighbour did recently on the River Otter. However, whether I'll be able to walk back to Bystock Pools is another thing! The small country road was busier than I've ever experienced it before. With car after car going past, no pavement and only tall hedges, in some places, to try and tuck out of the way. I get it, I sometimes drive our van down the very same road but it is such lunacy that we have allowed vehicles to have more space on our roads than people (and wildlife). It really makes it hard to leave the car behind, sometimes, and head out on foot, as I try to do as much as possible.
However, focusing back on the good news, I never expected beavers to return to the UK, I should think as a child I didn't even know they were a native species. With so much destruction of nature all around it is so inspiring to witness the return of this keystone species. If we can do this, as well as reintroduce pine martins to Devon and species such as the red kite and white stork in other parts of the country, what else can we do?
