A wild beaver has been filmed on a river in Wales after the species became extinct in Britain about 400 years ago.
The semiaquatic rodent was previously hunted to extinction, but has made a comeback over the past two decades. There are four managed enclosures for beavers in Wales, but it remains unknown how many live in the wild at the moment.
Naturalist Iolo Williams encountered the wild beaver on the River Dyfi, near Machynlleth. He told the BBC: “I’ve seen some incredible wildlife in Wales, some amazing things, but this ranks up there, not just with the best, but as the very, very best.
“The last people to see wild beavers in Wales would have been the Welsh princes, who would have hunted them. So they've been absent for hundreds of years. It's hugely significant.”
Mr Williams first saw the beaver while he was filming his BBC series Iolo's River Valleys. He said the animal “didn’t pay us any attention at all”.
"It was very chill," he said. “We were on the opposite bank, and we thought we better be quiet, don't move around. And the beaver just saw us and it just carried on feeding and swam.”
Mr Williams said the beaver "didn't pay us any attention at all".
Locals say they have spotted beavers along that same stretch of the River Dyfi in recent years, but where they come from has remained a mystery after a nearby beaver enclosure ruled out any escapes.
The North Wales Wildlife Trust has been working on its Welsh Beaver Project since 2005 in a mission to return the animal back to the wild. While once widespread across Wales, beavers were hunted for their fur, meat and scent glands.
The trust said beavers are “very special” because they “play a vital role in enriching biodiversity by restoring and managing river and wetland ecosystems”.
“They are known as a ‘keystone species’ because their activities can benefit a wide range of other animals and plants that live in rivers and wetlands,” it added.
It is an offence in Wales to release beavers into open rivers without a licence, and Natural Resources Wales told the BBC that no licences of this type have been issued currently.
England recently approved the reintroduction of beavers into the wild, and there are said to be about 500 of them in the wilderness and in enclosures. Meanwhile, there are thought to be more than 1,500 beavers in Scotland after they were reintroduced to the wild several years ago.
