We were proud of this dam. It formed a complete U. Downstream, the beavers had built another, but smaller dam. Further on there were other dams before the rivulet flowed through a small culvert underneath the drive to pass on through other pools the beavers had built. 

The next picture comes from a web site or something. It shows a couple of capybara with minister for the environment, Stewart Stevenson, inset.

Capybara, coypu, musk rat, beaver - what's the difference?

To go back to our beavers and their habitat: here is a beaver doing a bit of restorative work.

The breaching of the big dam revealed smaller dams. It is these that are being rebuilt now. The complexity of the underwater geography that beavers create has relevance to the ecology of the freshwater habitats: spaces are made for fish and amphibians as well as a multitude of invertebrates. 

The minister's announcement that the cull would not be resumed was greeted with hysteria by English fishermen as this article in 'The Scotsman' shows. We greeted the announcement with delight, tempered by knowledge of reports that things were said privately to the landowners' organisation and some salmon fishery interests that contradicted the public statements.

The article below was a leading article in 'The Scotsman' and took a humorous line about the whole affair. Thank goodness for that!

Reivers were raiders. the word applied originally to those Scots who raided south into England and their English counterparts who raided north into Scotland. They flourished through the late Middle Ages up to the seventeenth century, when religious and civil wars replaced simple raiding for cattle and sheep as preferred forms of violence.

Here is an otter out, looking for frogs, I suppose. Perhaps it has found eels in the ponds?

More building as the beavers make good their habitat.

 If only our species would restore our habitat with the patience and humility shown by beavers.