Missing beavers search continues

In the green acres of a big country manor, a group of rangers and volunteers are searching for two rewilding beavers that have made their second "great escape".

It is believed Woody and Twiggy found their way out of the Mapperton Estate during bad weather that damaged their large enclosure.

The Eurasian pair were introduced to West Dorset from Scotland in 2022 under licence from Natural England, but have not been seen since January 2024.

Evidence of the beavers has been found on the Mangerton River, which runs through the grounds.

Luke Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke, lives with his family at Mapperton House and explains why he thinks the beavers left.

"They like roaming across large territories and finding the best possible place for them to build their lodge and their dams and they wanted to find somewhere new to find food and possibly meet up with other beavers," he said.

The Viscount believes they have either migrated down the river Mangerton or across the river Brit.

He said: "I'd like to think we are going to find them but you never know, they have had a little while to make their escape and if they don't come back this time, the good news is we will find some new beavers to rehouse in our enclosure.

"Beavers are at the heart of our rewilding project here at Mapperton because we're reintroducing species to take over some of the management of the landscape because to be honest when it comes to nature recovery, beavers do a better job than we do. They are eco system engineers, they create wetlands."

The ranger for Mapperton, Ben Padwick, leads the group of volunteers searching for the beavers and explained what they were looking for.

"From feeding so there will be little piles of sticks that they've taken off the bark and ring barking. Lots of different indicators of seeing where they are," he said.

"We've got lots of evidence from the years before but nothing too recent so there's not really good signs."

Just over two years ago, the beavers broke out together following previous storm damage.

A group of volunteers recaptured them 10 days later using a trail of apples and parsnips which led to a trap.

Viscount Hinchingbrooke said "They broke out together... it was a real Bonnie and Clyde effort... and went on holiday for about 10 days."

Wild beavers could also be returning to the Isle of Wight for the first time in more than 400 years.

Ecologists want to reintroduce the mammals to the island's Eastern Yar river as being a suitable habitat.

The Hampshire & Isle of Wight WIldlife Trust already owns approximately 300 acres of land along the Eastern Yar floodplain, spanning interconnected nature reserves from Newchurch Moors to Morton Marsh.

You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.