{"id":11755,"date":"2025-07-21T01:06:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T01:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/11755\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T01:06:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T01:06:26","slug":"beaver-kits-spotted-at-sculthorpe-moor-reserve-near-fakenham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/11755\/","title":{"rendered":"Beaver kits spotted at Sculthorpe Moor reserve near Fakenham"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  The pair was spotted at the\u00a0Hawk and Owl Trust\u2019s Sculthorpe Moor Nature Reserve, marking the third consecutive year of successful breeding since beavers were first reintroduced to the site in 2022.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Their\u00a0arrival follows the birth of three kits last summer, two kits in 2023, and the introduction of the original Eurasian beaver pair to the reserve in 2022 as part of a project to enhance biodiversity and encourage more birds of prey to take up residence at the site.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"The beaver kits havebeen filmed swimming in the water together\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>The beaver kits have been filmed swimming in the water together (Image: Sculthorpe Moor Nature Reserve) Adrian Blumfield, operations director at the Hawk and Owl Trust, which manages Sculthorpe Moor Nature Reserve, said: &#8220;It\u2019s a joy to see our resident beaver family continue to grow &#8211; a real testament to how well the beavers have settled in and the benefits they\u2019re bringing to the wider ecosystem.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.edp24.co.uk\/news\/25303588.norfolk-tops-table-2025-gwct-big-farmland-bird-count\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Norfolk is at the top of the tree in farmland bird count &#8211; for seventh year running<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;The footage captured on our trail cameras shows both the kits thriving and already starting to independently explore their surroundings, with one confidently seen swimming the full length of the drain, and the other managing an impressive 50-yard underwater stretch.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;Watching these remarkable creatures interact with each other and their environment is a truly exceptional experience.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Beavers were hunted to extinction in the UK in the 16th century for their fur, meat, and even the oil from their scent glands.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"The kits have been exploring the water\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>The kits have been exploring the water (Image: Sculthorpe Moor Nature Reserve) Efforts to reintroduce the species over the past few decades mean England\u2019s beaver population now stands at around 500.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edp24.co.uk\/news\/23579909.beaver-kits-spotted-first-time-fakenham-reserve\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Baby beavers spotted for first time at Norfolk reserve<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  With their stocky builds and long tails, the Eurasian Beaver is Britain&#8217;s largest rodent and the world\u2019s second largest.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"England's beaver population now stands at around 500\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>England&#8217;s beaver population now stands at around 500 (Image: Sculthorpe Moor Nature Reserve) They are semi-aquatic mammals and have\u00a0thick brown fur, long orange teeth for gnawing\u00a0and webbed back feet for swimming.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Beavers are thought to mate for life. They live in small family groups and tend to have a litter of two to four kits each year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The pair was spotted at the\u00a0Hawk and Owl Trust\u2019s Sculthorpe Moor Nature Reserve, marking the third consecutive year&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-11755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}