At least 50 beavers have been living on the Bristol Avon without anyone noticing before, stunned researchers have discovered. And the creatures, which were native to the West Country until the reign of Henry VIII some 500 years ago, are growing in number and expanding their territories across the Bristol and Bath, Somerset and Wiltshire areas.
The existence of the large aquatic mammals was discovered in such numbers after just one family was spotted living on a tributary to the Bristol Avon, between Bristol and Bath, during the Covid lockdown of 2020 and 2021. Bristol Live broke the news that beavers had returned to the area’s rivers in September 2021.
After that discovery, Natural England commissioned a full-scale survey covering 175 miles of the Bristol Avon and its tributaries out into the countryside of North East Somerset and Wiltshire, in January and February 2022. Incredibly, the surveyors discovered what they think are not one, but 13 different established beaver family territories that appear to have been well-established for a few years.
