A wild beaver has been spotted in Norfolk for the first time since beavers were hunted to extinction in England at the beginning of the 16th century.
It was filmed dragging logs and establishing a lodge in a “perfect beaver habitat” on the River Wensum at Pensthorpe, a nature reserve near Fakenham in Norfolk.
No one knows where it’s come from, but it’s found what I consider a perfect beaver habitat,” said the reserve’s manager, Richard Spowage.
He estimates the beaver has been living in an isolated and almost impenetrable area of the reserve for about a month.
The beaver – a nocturnal herbivore – is collecting willow trees at night and building a larder of bark to store near its home.
“It could be a naturally dispersing wild beaver,” said Emily Bowen, a spokesperson for the Beaver Trust, a charity that aims to restore beavers to regenerate landscapes.
Spowage doubts whether a wild beaver could have reached Norfolk by itself. »