Staffordshire Wildlife Trust has been keeping a brown furry secret...

The kit’s out of the bag, as footage shows a wild baby beaver’s first independent moments. This is a groundbreaking moment for nature in Staffordshire – it's the first beaver born in the wild here in over 400 years.

Earlier this year, the Trust revealed that it was monitoring a number of wild beavers around the county. This small population are believed to be the product of ‘beaver bombing’ or illegal releases by unknown guerilla rewilding enthusiasts.

But what the Trust didn’t share was that one of the beavers appeared to be lactating (her teats were enlarged) which indicated she was feeding young in her burrow. The Trust kept the news under wraps, only alerting the landowner, partners in its beaver project group and subscribed members.

“During their first few week's beaver kits are incredibly vulnerable to predation (from mink and otter),”

said Nick Mott, Species Recovery Manager at SWT,

“so we were really cautious about sharing this exciting news until we’d had sightings of the kit/s above ground, which now we do!

“This is amazing news! Although the circumstances in which the beavers arrived here are less than ideal, it shows that we do have suitable habitat for them to thrive and breed here again. I’m thrilled!

“At this stage we’ve only seen one kit on our trail camera, so it may be that it’s an only kit, or it could be that its siblings were predated, we’re not sure. Thankfully this kit looks healthy and it’s feeding without either of its parents present, which is another good sign. We’ll continue to monitor this family as the kit grows, along with other beavers in different areas, but we’re yet to see any signs of those breeding.”

2026 is shaping up to be a big year for beavers in Staffordshire, with work about to
start on an enclosure for a fenced beaver project at SWT owned nature reserve
Craddocks Moss. The Trust is set to release a pair of beavers at this lowland bog
near Madeley in the autumn. Currently the bog is in poor condition, but it’s hoped
that once nature’s engineers get to work there it will be bought back to good health
and made better for a whole host of other wildlife.

Meanwhile, the Trust continues with its project to bring more wild beavers to
Staffordshire in coming years. Following successful trials elsewhere, in 2025 the
government confirmed that beavers can be released into the wild under licence.
SWT is currently preparing information for a future full licence application to Natural England, with plans for a carefully managed 10 year project which could see 50 beavers reintroduced in suitable areas.