{"id":166709,"date":"2025-12-03T23:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T23:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/166709\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T23:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T23:05:10","slug":"beaver-spotted-at-pensthorpe-nature-reserve-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/166709\/","title":{"rendered":"Beaver spotted at Pensthorpe nature reserve for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/567fcb80-cfa3-11f0-a7ae-216dd0212f3b.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Pensthorpe Natural Park A black and white image of a beaver in long grass at night.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Pensthorpe Natural Park<\/p>\n<p>The beaver at Pensthorpe Natural Park was spotted on camera and has been monitored for several weeks<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">A nature reserve has recorded the first wild beaver living at its site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The animal was spotted several weeks ago at Pensthorpe Natural Park near Fakenham, Norfolk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Beavers become extinct in Britain in the 16th Century due to overhunting, and this one is thought to be the first wild beaver in Norfolk for centuries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Reserve manager Richard Spowage said: &#8220;The fact that it has chosen our land to establish a territory reflects the ongoing work we have been doing to improve our river and surrounding land for nature.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Mr Spowage added that its presence was &#8220;extremely low-impact and an encouraging indicator of ecological recovery&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;This discovery is an exciting moment for Pensthorpe,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/a73b2c50-cfa2-11f0-8c06-f5d460985095.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Pensthorpe Natural Park A tree standing in woods, which are part of a nature reserve. Some of its bark has been stripped off. A small pond is in the background and the area is surrounded by trees and vegetation.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Pensthorpe Natural Park<\/p>\n<p>Bark stripped from trees at the nature reserve is believed to be the work of the beaver<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Because the beaver is nocturnal, sightings are extremely rare and the reserve said it was not promoting it as a visitor attraction but rather celebrating what its discovery meant for the site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">In other parts of the UK, beavers have been reintroduced into the wild after the government <a target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cj3nn4rlxz5o\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">gave its approval earlier this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Wetlands are some of the most threatened habitats in the UK,&#8221; Mr Spowage said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;To have a beaver recorded here is a reminder of what&#8217;s possible when you restore nature at scale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;It&#8217;s a moment of hope, not just for Pensthorpe but for wildlife across Norfolk.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pensthorpe Natural Park The beaver at Pensthorpe Natural Park was spotted on camera and has been monitored for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[85,46,141,386],"class_list":{"0":"post-166709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}