A colony of beavers which has set up home on a former dairy farm is being hailed as a success story for a rewilding project.
Three years ago, charity Heal Rewilding bought a 460-acre site between Frome and Bruton in Somerset, with the aim of returning the land to its natural state.
Since then, a beaver colony has dammed the tributaries of the River Frome, creating its own personalised pond and welcoming five kits this year.
Local dementia support group Wild Memories also regularly meets at the site to spend time outdoors among the sounds, sights and smells, which it said triggered a “beautiful nostalgia”.
After acquiring the site, charity CEO Jan Stannard said the group “simply stood back and watched” for two years, to learn about the land and gauge its potential.
“We let the grasses grow up and we started to take surveys to find out everything from insect numbers, to birds and bats,” she said.
The charity’s first report, external reveals 94 species of birds have been informally recorded since 2023, including 21 red-listed and 28 amber-listed species.
The number of butterfly species also doubled from 11 to 24, along with a significant increase in mice and vole populations.