A beaver has been filmed exploring the bank of the River Avon New Cut underneath Bedminster Bridge today. The man who filmed the creature said he was blown away by spotting it swimming along the side of the river and admitted he initially thought it was a dog in the water.
James spotted the creature in the water coming upstream along the south bank of the New Cut towards Bedminster Bridge, parallel with Coronation Road at around 10.20am this morning, Thursday, April 13.
Read next: The Field Guide to the 14 strangest animals you might see in Bristol
James, who runs JamesB Hair on East Street in Bedminster, whipped out his phone and zoomed in on the animal, and was stunned to see it was a beaver.
"It took me by surprise, I thought it was a dog when it was in the distance and wasn’t expecting to see it there," he said. "It's a very fast flowing river so wondering if it got washed down from all the rain. I was over the moon when I saw it - blown away," he added.
Beavers are native to English rivers but were hunted to extinction in Britain back in the first half of the 1500s. The presence of beavers once again on the River Avon was first revealed by Bristol Live back in September 2021, reporting on the discovery made by Triodos Bank chief Beavis Watts, who found them living in part of the river near Bath.
Since then, Natural England conducted a full survey of the River Avon to see if there are any more, and were stunned to discover evidence of at least 50 beavers living in the River Avon and all its tributaries upstream in Wiltshire and Somerset. That survey didn't include Bristol or any part of the river downstream from Bath, so the sight of one this far downstream and in the middle of the city shows just how established the population now is on the river.
Read more on Bristol's beavers:
Sep 2021: Experts stunned to find beavers living wild on Bristol Avon for first time in almost 500 years
March 2023: 50 beavers living secretly on the Bristol Avon, stunned researchers discover
July 2022: Meet Bevis - the man who discovered beavers were back in Bristol
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