Autumn Beaver On Visit To River Tay Perthshire Scotland

Tour Scotland Autumn travel video a Beaver on visit to the River Tay in Perthshire. Beavers are known for building dams and lodges using tree branches, vegetation, rocks and mud; they chew down trees for building material. Dams impound water and lodges serve as shelters. Beavers are considered to be a keystone species, and their infrastructure creates wetlands used by many other species. The beaver is famed for its industriousness and its building skills, and is an official symbol of Canada. Beavers were once widespread throughout Britain. It is believed that they were hunted to extinction for their fur and castoreum, an oil used for scents and flavouring. Beavers were also hunted throughout Europe and became extinct or were reduced to remnant populations in many countries. Since the middle of the 20th Century beaver reintroduction programmes throughout Europe have seen the return of beavers to more than 25 countries. Beavers are particularly valued as candidates for reintroduction because of their ability to manipulate their environment to produce wetland habitats that can in turn support greater biodiversity. The ability of beavers to change their environment can also have positive and negative effects on issues or activities such as flood management, agriculture and freshwater fisheries All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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