Beavers returned to Bedfordshire after 400-year absence - two adults and two kits released on Southill Estate, near Biggleswade
Following a 400-year absence, beavers are back in Bedfordshire.
Beavers are back in a UK county for the first time in 400 years. The family - made up of two adult beavers and two kits - has been released in Bedfordshire after years of preparation by animal experts.
The Eurasian beavers have moved in to a purpose-built enclosure on the Southill Estate, near Biggleswade, after a "long and complex journey", the experts said.
The release took place in two stages, with an adult male and two kits sourced from Scotland first introduced to the enclosure. A few days later, the family group was completed with the arrival of an adult female, which had spent the past 14 months being rehabilitated.
Owner of the estate, Charles Whitbread, said: "This has been a long and complex journey, with challenges we didn't always know we would overcome and there were moments when we genuinely wondered whether this day would ever come.
"To finally see the beavers released and swimming in the landscape was truly wonderful, and something I will not forget. We hope the return of beavers will be the first of many lost species to find a home at Southill, and that what we are building here will continue to grow in ambition for years to come."
The release follows the successful granting of a licence from Natural England, secured in partnership with the Beaver Trust. Construction of a securely fenced enclosure, pond creation, and "rewiggling" of an existing ditch to restore the habitat has been carried out.
Specialist nature restoration company RESTORE, who provided management planning, added: "Beaver dams slow water flow, helping to retain water in the landscape, a critical function in Bedfordshire, one of the driest counties in the country. By attenuating peak flows, they contribute to natural flood mitigation within the River Ivel chalk stream catchment."
Eurasian beavers were hunted to extinction in the UK by the 16th century, driven by demand for their valuable fur, meat, and castoreum, a chemical excreted from a gland at the base of the tail to mark territory, that was used as a food flavouring and in the perfume industry.