It has been a considerable while since I wrote a blog post, so here goes!!

Few wildlife encounters are as rewarding as watching a beaver at work. Emerging quietly from the water as daylight fades, these shy yet industrious mammals demonstrate remarkable engineering skills, felling trees with astonishing precision and constructing dams that reshape entire ecosystems. Their glossy brown fur, distinctive flat tail, and calm, purposeful behaviour make them a captivating subject for wildlife photographers. Patience is often rewarded with intimate moments of feeding, swimming, grooming, or carrying branches, offering a glimpse into the secretive life of one of Britain's most successful wildlife reintroductions.

After a short walk through the woodland, you arrive at the water's edge. Photography is undertaken from well-positioned pop-up hides located directly opposite the beaver lodge, providing an exceptional viewpoint without disturbing the animals in their natural environment.

The focal distance to the lodge is relatively short, making my 400mm f/2.8 lens the ideal choice for the evening. Its wide maximum aperture was invaluable in the low-light conditions beneath the woodland canopy, allowing me to continue photographing well into the evening as the light gradually faded. The combination of reach, sharpness and outstanding low-light performance made it the perfect lens for this unique wildlife encounter.

My first sighting came shortly after 7:00 pm, when what was believed to be a sub-adult male emerged from the lodge. Like the others that would appear later in the evening, he spent much of his time feeding on freshly cut willow branches floating in the water.

After feeding for several minutes, he collected a substantial willow stem and swam back to the lodge, presumably to provide food for the kits waiting inside. A short time later, he reappeared and resumed feeding, seemingly undisturbed by my presence in the hide.



Not long afterwards, the adult male joined him. The pair fed enthusiastically together, stripping bark and leaves from the willow with remarkable speed and efficiency. Watching these powerful yet surprisingly graceful animals at such close quarters was a fascinating insight into the social behaviour and family life of one of Britain's most remarkable mammals.

This image is probably my favourite photograph from the entire session. As far as I could establish, this was the adult male, and he gave me a wonderful opportunity to capture him in his natural surroundings.

He was quietly working his way through the willow, feeding and moving between the branches in the water. There is something particularly special about this image for me; the combination of his relaxed posture, the detail in his wet fur and the soft evening light really captures the character of this remarkable animal.

Rather than simply being a portrait of a beaver, I feel the image tells a little of the story of the encounter — an adult male going about his evening routine, completely at home in his watery environment. Capturing moments like this, where the animal is behaving naturally and seemingly unaware of the photographer's presence, is what makes wildlife photography so rewarding.

The feeding continued well into the evening, eventually carrying on until the light had faded to the point where it was simply too dark to capture any more images.

From my observations throughout the evening, I believe I was fortunate enough to have visits from five different beavers. Each appearance offered something slightly different, with the animals coming and going, feeding on the willow and returning to the lodge before emerging again.

For me, this made the whole experience particularly memorable. Sitting quietly beside the water and watching these animals go about their natural evening routine, with no interference or disturbance, was a privilege in itself. The photography was almost secondary to simply being there and witnessing their behaviour as the evening gradually slipped into darkness..

The video below was something of an experiment. It was filmed entirely using a GoPro HERO, rather than my main camera equipment, to see what could be achieved in the increasingly challenging evening light.

Although the image quality and control are obviously very different from a dedicated wildlife camera setup, the GoPro did allow me to continue recording for a little longer as the available light began to disappear. Its ability to capture something in these low-light conditions provided an interesting record of the beavers continuing their evening activity, even after it had become too dark for conventional photography.

For me, the video is less about producing a technically perfect piece of footage and more about documenting the experience — capturing a glimpse of what was happening on the water after the light had faded and the stillness of the evening had really set in.

And so, until the next time…

One thing is certain — this will not be my last visit. There is something incredibly special about sitting quietly beside the water, watching these remarkable animals emerge and go about their evening routine. I hope to return again soon, camera ready, and perhaps discover even more of their fascinating behaviour.