Beavers making themselves at home

Tom Freeland said he was confident the beavers would start to change their landscape

A pair of beavers who were introduced to a nature reserve in February are said to be settling in well and starting to make an impact.

The Eurasian beavers were released into an enclosure at the Old River Bed in Shrewsbury as an experiment, partly to help naturally manage an area of wetland.

Tom Freeland, from the Shropshire Wildlife Trust, said there was evidence of them felling and stripping trees and digging new channels.

In the coming months he said he expected to see more evidence of them changing the landscape.

The Old River Bed is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Shropshire Council had been keen to see if the beavers could control the growth of willow scrub which had been drying out the area.

Mr Freeland it had been hard to watch the beavers during the spring and summer because the amount of foliage in the area, but he expected that to become easier in the autumn and winter.

He also said that because food had been easy to come by in the summer, they had not needed to start strip bark off trees much.

A footpath and boardwalk allow visitors to walk through the beaver enclosure

Cameras have been installed to monitor the pair and he said there had been plenty of evidence of them moving around.

"They've settled in, they seem to be comfortable, they've made themselves a lodge and they've started to make an impact," he said.

Dr Angelika von Heimendahl, the Beaver Reintroduction Manager for the Wildlife Trust nationally, said it could take time, but she believed "they will change it into a beaver landscape".

There is no sign of the bonded couple having kits yet, but Mr Freeland said they appeared to be "very happy with each other" and grooming each other.

He also said that while they had been hard to spot, they had received a "really positive reception" from the public.