First English beaver dam in 800 years

The medieval clergyman and chronicler Giraldus Cambrensis made the last recording of beavers in Britain in 1188. He said they were only found in one river in Wales and one in Scotland. They were hunted to extinction by the 13th century.

In 2007, staff at the Escot Estate in Ottery St Mary, Devon, created a two-acre home for a pair of European beavers with ponds and woodland along a section of the River Tale.

John-Michael Kennaway of the Escot Esate thinks the beavers might have built their dam, the first in England in 800 years, because they may be breeding.

Over recent years, 15 beavers have been re-introduced to England, but these have lived on lakes and had no need to build a dam.

Source: Mail Online

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