Beaver Diaries February 2024
Following January’s heavy rainfall, February brought even more rain to East England, with a notable threefold increase. Access to the Beaver Enclosure was mainly through the scrape hide gate. This constant rainfall led to renewed flooding at Sculthorpe Moor, making it difficult to retrieve footage from our trail cameras spread throughout the reserve. During one inspection, only one of the six cameras was safely accessible. On another visit, we had to borrow waders to reach the beaver wood due to the flooding.
The persistent flooding seems to have influenced the behavior of our resident beavers. With the rising water levels providing them greater freedom of movement, they’ve started exploring areas previously inaccessible to us, potentially in search of different feeding areas.
February 2024
Before access through gate 2 became impossible there was evidence of fresh activity along the IDB drain with fresh gnawing, haulouts and the construction of a canal. There was still flooding at the Poplar pool and Release pool. The beavers had felled a tree near the Release pool with evidence of bark stripping. The Beaver wood also saw some trees brought down by strong winds.
The Beaver Lodge
Interestingly, unlike the previous winter when evidence of a permanent lodge was scarce, the past month has seen the beavers putting significant efforts into enhancing their summer lodge. They’ve been hard at work, adding layers of mud and logs to strengthen it. This has resulted in a substantial structure standing around five to six feet tall and stretching approximately ten feet across—a testament to their resilience and adaptability in challenging conditions. They’ve also added to the second lodge that they built. Nearby they’ve dug down into one of their burrows that seems to go from the drain possibly to the second lodge. This may be the result of this area being flooded and the beavers adding an extra entrance to the lodge
This month as we’ve walked through the enclosure the buzzards and kites have been active in the skies above. A flash of blue alerted us to a kingfisher flying along OFD. A small flock of bluetits called and flitted through the trees,and woodpeckers were beginning drumming as they establish territory to other males. On the scrape were the usual greylags, egyptian geese, mallards, lapwings, swans, oystercatchers, cormorants and black headed gulls..
Additionally, at the end of the Oak Fen Drain, where they began constructing their first dam in January, the structure has been washed away due to the considerable flow of water from the River Wensum. As the water levels recede they may resume their building.
For a visual journey through our beaver diaries, be sure to revisit last month’s entry on our website at https://adwimages.co.uk/the-sculthorpe-moor-beaver-diaries/.
| Otters | Squirrel | Stoat |
| Muntjac | Pheasant | Rat |
| Fox | Blackbird | Woodmouse |
| Tawny Owl | Greylag Geese | Mallard |
| Teal |