A beaver kit has been born in Staffordshire – becoming the first wild beaver born in the area in over 400 years.

Earlier this year, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust (SWT) revealed that it was monitoring a number of wild beavers around the county which were believed to be the product of 'beaver bombing' or illegal releases by unknown guerilla rewilding enthusiasts.

The Trust has now revealed that a beaver kit has been born in Staffordshire and has shared footage of the baby beaver's first independent moments.

"During their first few week's beaver kits are incredibly vulnerable to predation (from mink and otter)," said Nick Mott, Species Recovery Manager at SWT, "so we were really cautious about sharing this exciting news until we'd had sightings of the kit/s above ground, which now we do.

"This is amazing news. Although the circumstances in which the beavers arrived here are less than ideal, it shows that we do have suitable habitat for them to thrive and breed here again. I'm thrilled."

"At this stage we've only seen one kit on our trail camera, so it may be that it's an only kit, or it could be that its siblings were predated, we're not sure.

"Thankfully this kit looks healthy and it's feeding without either of its parents present, which is another good sign. We'll continue to monitor this family as the kit grows, along with other beavers in different areas, but we're yet to see any signs of those breeding."

(footage via Staffordshire Wildlife Trust)

Beavers – which were hunted to extinction over 400 years ago - can have a large impact on the surrounding ecosystem.

Nick added: "From the Wildlife Trust's point of view, we see them as very important ecosystem engineers. Their presence can throw a lifeline to a lot of other species.

"They breathe life back into our rivers, our river corridors, streams, wetlands, lakes, and even woodland edges through their activities."

Nick explained that beavers play an important role in opening up areas of wetlands, which allow water plants, amphibians, and insects like dragonflies to thrive.

They can also help to alleviate flooding and the impacts of drought, potentially benefitting local farmers and residents.

Nick added: "Beavers do hold a lot of water up in the landscape and during times of drought, they can strategically hold the water near the top of the catchment.

"This could actually be a benefit not only to farmers, but to other local wildlife."

The Staffordshire Wildlife Trust explained that given the species' long absence from the area, some management will be needed in the long term.

As beavers are a protected species, the Trust has over 50 people with management licenses from Natural England to respond to problems as well as offer advice and answer questions from local residents and farmers.

Work is set to start on an enclosure for a fenced beaver project at SWT owned nature reserve Craddocks Moss and the Trust is set to release a pair of beavers at this lowland bog near Madeley in the autumn.

A spokesperson for SWT said: "Currently the bog is in poor condition, but it's hoped that once nature's engineers get to work there it will be bought back to good health and made better for a whole host of other wildlife."

SWT is also hoping to bring more wild beavers to Staffordshire in coming years.

Following successful trials elsewhere, in 2025 the government confirmed that beavers can be released into the wild under licence.

SWT is currently preparing information for a future full licence application to Natural England, with plans for a carefully managed 10‑year project which could see 50 beavers reintroduced in suitable areas.

To find out more about wild beavers in Staffordshire, to request advice, or to report a sighting, visit the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust website here.