{"id":244413,"date":"2025-10-27T16:02:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T16:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/244413\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T16:02:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T16:02:17","slug":"seven-beavers-released-in-highlands-glen-affric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/244413\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven beavers released in Highlands&#8217; Glen Affric"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761311511_375_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ec325e00-b31e-11f0-97c8-db772e271405.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Beaver Trust The beaver is a brown furry mammal with short ears and a black nose. The beaver is slowly entering water.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Beaver Trust<\/p>\n<p>One of the beavers, a female, enters the water at Loch Beinn a Mheadhoin<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Seven beavers have been released at a loch in Glen Affric National Nature Reserve in the north-west Highlands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The animals were relocated to Loch Beinn a Mheadhoin under licence from Tayside, where illegally-released beavers have been blamed <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-scotland-tayside-central-45835811\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">for damaging farmland<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS), which manages the 43,500-acre reserve, has been working with Findhorn-headquartered Trees for Life on the initiative since 2022, supported by the Beaver Trust.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">A family of five beavers and a beaver pair were released at two sites last week.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761311511_375_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/04418c70-b322-11f0-ba75-093eca1ac29b.png.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A map of the Highlands showing the locations of Loch Beinn a Mheadhoin, Loch Ness and Inverness.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Glen Affric, near Cannich, is a large area of woodland, lochs, hills and mountains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">FLS said the release of the beavers had followed a &#8220;long and thorough&#8221; process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">North region manager Alex Mcleod added: &#8220;Fully engaging with the local Affric communities, including through a detailed consultation process, has been crucial in making sure that all voices were heard.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Trees for Life chief executive Steve Micklewright described the project as a &#8220;moment of wildlife history&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He said: &#8220;We&#8217;re proud to have worked with FLS on this community-focused initiative. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;FLS has undertaken vital habitat restoration work in Glen Affric over many years and shown real leadership in nature restoration by reintroducing this important habitat-creating, biodiversity-boosting, flood-preventing animal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761311511_375_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/b8b8b970-b31e-11f0-97c8-db772e271405.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Trees for Life The kit is light brown in colour with short ears and a black nose. It is swimming through water.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Trees for Life<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761311511_375_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0601ef30-b324-11f0-93b5-67ecd8e94ae1.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Getty Images The loch is in an area of woodland and tree-covered hills. The loch's water is calm and reflects the blue sky and white clouds above.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>A family of five beavers and a pair of beavers have been released at Loch Beinn a Mheadhoin<\/p>\n<p>FLS and Trees for Life have been working together with support from the Beaver Trust for three years on planning the release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Scotland&#8217;s nature body NatureScot granted a licence in August for the release of four family groups of beavers to the waters above Beinn A&#8217; Mheadhoin dam, following an application by FLS last December.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">FLS said beavers created wetlands that benefit other wildlife, purify water and reduce flooding. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">It added that the animals could bring economic benefits to communities through eco-tourism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">FLS has set up a beaver community mitigation and monitoring group to liaise with local communities, and visitors to the area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beaver Trust One of the beavers, a female, enters the water at Loch Beinn a Mheadhoin Seven beavers&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-244413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}