Beavers continuing to thrive in Worcestershire's Wyre Forest
The family of six have recently celebrated their two-year anniversary since being reintroduced into an enclosure in the woodland
A group of beavers are said to be keeping busy and continuing to shape the landscape around them in a Worcestershire woodland, two years since being released back there.
The family of six from Scotland, which consisted of two adults and four kits, were reintroduced into the Wyre Forest in April 2024 and are now based in a five-hectare enclosure in the heart of it.
Forestry England teamed up with Natural England and experts at the Beaver Trust for the project, with the aim focusing on how the mammal can help restore wetlands and reduce the impact of flooding.
Richard Boles, who's the area forester for Forestry England, said it has been exciting seeing how they've developed and altered the area.
"It’s been fascinating for us because we didn't really know what to expect," he said.
"We hoped, but we didn't know what to expect from these beavers, but what they have done is that the dams they've built has created new habitats.
"They're also creating more open space up through here, so that would be good for like reptiles and then other amphibians.
"So we're monitoring it weekly, monthly, but this summer we should see quite a big change from last summer because of all the extra flooding down here."
The reintroduction took place following other successful launches in the likes of the Forest of Dean and in Yorkshire.
Last February the government also announced its commitment to reintroducing beavers into the wild by allowing Natural England to begin accepting and assessing licence applications for such releases.
It added that any proposals would be considered against a "comprehensive wild release criteria" and so that they were reintroduced at a "measured pace".
Mr Boles also said since January the group has got "even busier" due to the rainfall they received, and have several dams dotted around the enclosure.
"Last year they seemed to kind of like stabilise the areas that there were about here," he said.
"Since probably November time we've got a space of water and we've suddenly got this big dam that's probably about 35 metres across.
"We think it's probably the best part of two metres in height, so it's quite a substantial dam."
He also said that they had their "fingers crossed" on some new arrivals from the mum this time around after none came from last year's breeding season.