Britain experiencing a beaver baby boom as kits spotted across the country

A beaver kit in the Cairngorms, where two kits in the upper River Spey catchment are the first wild-born beavers in the Cairngorms for centuries. Photograph: Cairngoms National Park

A beaver baby boom is under way across Britain this summer in places where the species had been extinct for centuries.

From Ealing in London to the Cairngorms in Scotland, and from Canterbury in Kent to the Wallington Estate in Northumberland, new kits have emerged from their lodges for an after-dark dip in the water.