Beavering, 09th &10th March

09-03-16

Needing a bit of "me" time and a bit of "time out" from every day worries, I opted to have a sit by the river and gather my thoughts and possibly my sanity. As I wandered down in the vain hope of seeing a kingfisher (it was still relatively early) I couldn't believe the disaster that befell me. After the recent floods all the debris, namely plastic from the tunnels from the raspberry fields, were strewn all over the trees a mile down the river. I was aghast at the ugliness of the whole thing and was promted to phone SEPA. I spoke to a very pleasant lad who informed me it was nothing to do with them, try the local authority. So I phoned Perth and Chaos and told them of my dismay. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the whole thing apparently falls on the landowner to remove the mess. A bit unfair in my opinion as it wasn't that particular farmer that "owned" the plastic.

Anyway, as I sat by the river I was overawed by the lack of activity by pretty much anything. I truly fear for the river and it's inhabitants after the recent floods. There is usually a wee upsurge of birdlife at this time of year, birdies on the hunt for a mate but the only thing I saw was a pair of Oystercatchers and a pair of Goosanders. There was a call from one of the resident buzzards and the roaring of a blackbird but that was pretty much it. I tell a lie, there was a brief sighting of a dipper. As I sat having a mull over things it became more than apparent the river had been hit really hard. Whether it was just my current mood or not, this saddened me greatly as the river is a place I adore.

I decided to move my location up to what was left of the beaver lodge. I wasn't sure if they were still present at last years burrow or not but I was determined to find out. Last year and the previous 3 years, the beavers had made a multitude of burrows very close to each other but not interconnecting. It amuses me that beavers are very sociable animals but when it comes to burrowing and tree-felling, it is pretty much "it's mine, get your own", yet dam building and lodge construction is different. I've seen a few fall outs over both the prior activities and it is generally a youngster that gets the roasting but not always. The banks on the Ericht are generally very sandy and as you will know, easily washed away. So I wasn't sure if they would still be in their warrens. I didn't think they would abandon the immediate location due to the fact there is an escape and safe haven from future flood events very close.

1830 and as the night was drawing to a close and the light was fading fast, there was a wee splash to my left. It wasn't a beaver splash nor a fish spash.........it was an otter. This time of year over the last couple of years, there has been a dog otter harrassing the beavers, and jinking in and out of the burrows almost teasing the beaver into action. On this occassion, It swam below the water past me towards the lodge, bubbles trailing on the surface then disappearing completely. Literally less than a minute later I sighted a bow-wave approaching from my right (lodge direction heading left, and sure it was my first sighting this year of a beaver and a big adult at that. I tried to track it as it swam downstream in the fading light but it, I think, went up onto the banking on the opposite side.So, chuffed in knowing my wee colony is still present, albeit 1 but I have every faith that the adult I saw will have a mate.

10-03-16

After the previous night activity, I thought I'd have a walk to the river again. On this occassion I was on the opposite side of the river. It's strange how your eyes play tricks as the night fades, seeing movements in the water that aren't really there. It was after this revalation (and I've had it countless times) that I decided to move my location. Where I was sitting had very little light and what light there was, was in my face so seeing things and identifying them was a nightmare. I got up and had a wee wander down stream where the canopy was a bit more open and offered a bit longer viewing, albeit 10mins or so. As I reached my desired location, I was attracted to a fair amount of tree nibbling. These were generally willows, but there are a line of Alders just a wee bit further down that offer a great screen for the beaver, possibly where the previous nights sighting had disappeared into. As I sneaked down to the bank, I caught out of the corner of my eye, a small dark shape which promptly jumped into the river with a wee" plop" and was never seen again. I'm not sure what it was, maybe a rat but hopefully a water vole but couldn't be sure.

I sat for a wee bit and as alluded to before, my eyes were playing tricks and it was now 1845 so I just thought I'd head home. As I was walking up the river, lo and behold, "big" ripples coming from 2 locations on the opposite bank. I know from experience there are at least a couple of burrows in that location and the ripples were indicative of an animal either grooming or feeding, as though there was obvious movements, there were no bow waves or associated ripples. By this stage it was dark and I headed back to the car happy in the knowledge my beasties were still there.