Beavers - Greenfields Neighbours

Shrewsbury's local Wildlife Trust has created a beaver reintroduction project in our neighbourhood.

Shropshire Wildlife Trust worked alongside the landowners to introduce beavers into a managed and contained site and its a fascinating place, just steps away from Greenfields Park.

We hope to be able to provide information and signage to raise awareness to this wonderful asset in our local neighbourhood.

Beavers are large, semi-aquatic rodents known for their distinctive physical features, ecological importance, and remarkable dam-building abilities, their physical characteristics are impressive with them being the second largest rodents in the world. They can weigh between 35 and 70 pounds and measure between 30 and 40 inches in length, their large, flat, paddle-like tail aids swimming, communication and dam construction.

A multi-talented neighbour for us in Greenfields!

The beaver's webbed back feet also make them excellent swimmers, their front feet help them build structures and their large incisors are continuously growing and help them gnaw through wood and bark which is essential for both diet and dam building.

A fact that I love about our new neighbours is that beavers are monogamous creatures, living in family units and working together on their homestead.

Alongside the wider benefits to the natural world, the reintroduction of beaver populations locally, offers economic benefits in terms of wildlife tourism, which over recent years has become increasingly popular with beavers becoming an attraction for wildlife watchers, bringing visitors to the town and county. Beavers are most active during dawn and dusk, hence visitors tend to stay overnight and enhance the local economy through supporting hotels, restaurants and shops.

So the beavers are a boost for Shrewsbury's visitor economy as well as being fascinating neighbours for those of us lucky enough to have our own permanent habitat in Greenfields.