Beaver tour 12th April

I got a phone call today from the wonderful people at Rosebank House B&B, Jim and Aofa. They were asking if I could do a wee beaver tour for some of their guests. Never one to say no, I took up the offer to take the group to the river. The group consisted of Alan, Mo, Lee and Lisa, a lovely family from Stoke. They were really interested in nature and in particular the beaver, I had questions fired at me all night, loved it.

It was a lazy east wind that was blowing, it doesn't go around you, it goes straight through you!!!! This is generally a sign that things are going to be slow, and slow it was. Pops didn't appear until 2020, late in comparison from last week. He showed under a tree at his burrow making viewing quite difficult but I did spot him. I'd been telling the group how big these guys could be just 5 mins previous. I handed the binoculars to Lisa and I had to laugh when she said, when pointed in the right direction, "all I can see is a big mound", "that's the beaver" was my reply. The look on her face is one that is pretty common to a first sighting, total awe and incredulity at the size and experience, and it's one that I truly cherish every time.

Pops eventually went for a wee swim, disappeared then eventually reappeared swimming up the river towards us. He camped up just down river from us and chewed away on a twig. Unfortunately he got wind of us and gave us a lovely tail splash before disappearing. It wasn't the perfect beavering experience for my guests unfortunately but I know they enjoyed the evening. In fact, Lisa left with a sizable beaver chewed stick and the were full of questions all the way back to the car. My pics were pretty poor but here's one from last year. This sight will be a regular occurrence very soon :-D