They released Beavers to London! here’s what happened...

this video is sponsored by ecology training UK but more on them in just a minute because a family of beavers were just released to this wetland in urban London I had exclusive access to capture this Monumental day not only for rewarding but everyone involved in the project and it was a fairly hectic day for myself and Matt to ensure we properly captured this unique event I vlogged the entire thing so you'll see the day as it happened and I'll also get into some of the details on why this project is so significant and we will also be doing a project podcast in the coming weeks to really get into the details of this this will be made available to channel members so be sure to join and get your questions concerns or thoughts down in the comments but first a word from our sponsor all of the brilliant and fantastic people behind this project and actually all of the other rewarding projects that I've been a part of are to some level ecologists they're people that have a background in ecology they spent years training and acquiring knowledge so they can be the ones to push forward and Implement rewarding projects like returning beavers to London the simple fact is is without these dedicated and knowledgeable people rewarding simply wouldn't happen and this is why I've partnered with ecology training UK there has never been a better more important more exciting time to learn more or perhaps begin pursuing a career in working with nature and reing whether if you're a complete beginner that wants to do an online introductory course into beavers into River restoration or into fungi or perhaps you want to grow and expand by going on a field trip to Sweden's Wilderness or maybe you just want to do a full-blown certificate in conservation management ecology training UK is the place to do this all of the details for this will be in the description go and see what they can offer you 4:20 a.m. it's a very early start today but it's London Beaver day well it's not officially London Beaver day but maybe we can make the 11th of October The Unofficial London Beaver day so welcome welcome to London today is a significant day because beavers are going to be released to this park here I'm on location this is like the second installment I've already done a part one of this project on the channel but today is a significant day because the Beavers are going to be released I'm standing at the entrance of the site and Sean mentioned last time that this whole area would be painted with a mural and yeah this is [Music] epic shortly after my arrival so did my partner in crime for the death so this is Matt we're we're the first here and we've aside from reintroducing the Beavers we've arguably got quite an important job haven't we yeah uh I was thinking it's a bit like penalties this morning when I was driving in cuz got we got five beavers we don't really want to miss um any of it when they open the traps we're going to have very little time uh but hopefully you know we've got two cameras I think how many go PRS Rock oh maybe three three drones as well not that we'll need three drones we're covered for it aren't we we grabbed a quick coffee not that we needed to had any energy to what was clearly beginning to build excited Sean very excited it's like Christmas this is sha he showed us around the site earlier in the year he's part of the eing wildlife group we are just one of the many organizations involved with the project and don't worry we'll get into the rest of them as we meet them people are showing up we're building we're going to go in and we're going to have a little think about how we're going to film this there's a little bit of pressure on this the site is going to be open to the public and it's going to be a gated system Double Gates on the entrances beavers shouldn't be able to work them out and I must say the site will not be open for a good few weeks as the Beavers will be getting situated but in time people will have access through this is what sets apart this Beaver enclosure from all the others in England and of course because it's so Urban I think that this is the Beavers arriving now no it was absolutely not the Beavers turns out it was just the council deciding that this morning was a good time to fit some bins meanwhile we were sizing up exactly where and how we'd film this we really only had two key areas to stand one was on this pontoon where we are now and the other was over next to the actual release site Matt and I realized that this pontoon was just too far away and ultimately with a poor line of sight for our cameras so we headed over to see what it was like on the other side so we have have what's the time M it's 7:33 and beavers are coming out at 8 right now this actually was the Beavers showing up they've been driven overnight by roshen and Eva of the Beaver trust all the way from Scotland the beaver trust are experts in Beaver ecology and R introduction so have been crucial to the project we'll hear more from Rosen in just a minute hello mate oh you're hissing at me I won't get too close to you and this this is Elliot he's from sisters in zoo who have been another huge driver in this project really big mom as well she's incredible wow yeah 30 kg so yeah yeah she's a beast yeah have peak of physical condition beavers are now being moved into position you got the big girl yeah she's a heavy one she is 30 kg about so this is Dad is it got Dad yeah so we're just moving them over by the pond here this is going to be the main Pond where they'll live um we've got Mom and Dad and we've got one generation and another generation of kids so that's five beavers in total okay let's move this one position you're going to see the Beavers coming out face on more and more people were showing up and anticipation was building here's my waiters thank you very much Elliot so I adorned a pair of waiters this was necessary as I had a very important job of turning on the GoPros you got the GoPros out yet not out should we get just waiting for the mayor of London to arrive and then I'm going to go around I've got to turn on these GoPros here and then we got to get the Drone up you see we're responsible for capturing the GoPro stuff here and the Drone no one else from the press or media were able to do this or have as much access as we did for the project this is why Matt and I had to get it right anticipation was really beginning to build you nervous P never had so much responsibility my life and it wasn't long before the mayor showed up I managed to avoid sinking and falling over in the mud as I turned on the GoPros I then ran back to get the Drone up and into position and now with everything and everyone in place the wait was over and it was time to release the Beavers starting with the big mama you can tell as she burst out of the cage she was just happy to be out and then came the rest of the family dad and the kids the youngest kits just seem relaxed and pretty interested in the apples that were dotted about straight away there was there was a sense that the Beavers felt comfortable and that they were home it wasn't long before all the Beavers were in the water and settling [Music] it happy oh my God I'm so happy it's a big relief my heart was literally pounding when that female came out first I was like oh my God she's so big and then it all just went swimmingly well didn't it so I'm delighted it couldn't have gone better really she just wanted to be out didn't she I know and then seeing them do the little lap and the tour and they're exploring underne surroundings it's like this is their back where they belong Paradise feels I mean we can see already they've all come together and they've even started to eat so we're like super happy with how that went and to me I think they just melted right back into this landscape so even though we're in very Urban London and even though you know beavers have not been here for so long I think what you see is a species that can just merge back into habitat that it's native to and hopefully does a lot of good Beav Beav they're here and it's absolutely so exciting amazing I cannot wait to watch the landscape transform and I'm so happy for the Beavers to be here big relief now oh incredible incredible incredible time pleas G it couldn't have gone better I don't think no no they they were a little bit tentative at first and the way they just came out and swimming around they've been swimming around for quite a while now just they just look so at home here already which is pretty special with the hype of the release now over it was back to hendom farm another important partner of the project where we had a job on our hands to sort the footage which we could make available to the media Welcome to our office this didn't take too long and then we were soon down to join with the last of the celebrations he there's a beaver cake Beaver cake about to be about to be cut some Lake jelly or something like some blue jelly for the lake as well Beav beer as well that's cool right have you tried it oh I'm going tonight Rosen as well is here from the beaver trust and I think she deserves a special Round of Applause for driving from Scotland [Applause] last Roan is our ecologist for the project and on the license and she's been a fantastic source of information inspiration and um telling us calm down it'll be fine even though this is yet another Beaver enclosure this one feels different it's in London it's extremely Urban and it'll be accessible to the public right now this is the closest we can get to Wild beavers in London but this must change England already has thriving wild Beaver populations and there's many many enclosures which beavers are fast outg growing and need somewhere to go the most logical answer is to set them free Without Borders if the government really wants to take nature restoration seriously then the decision must be made to enable the natural dispersal of keystone species like the beaver I'm just thankful to people like sha Elliot Rosen and everyone else who has worked so hard to get this project to where it is today what are your thoughts on this do you think beavers should be widespread throughout the UK how do you feel the day's gone Matt it's it's funny isn't it because there'd been moments of Joy there'd be moments of stress there'd been moments of frustration but when you get in front of the computer and you review the footage and you see some of the gold it makes it all worthwhile it makes it worth it's been a real mix it's always a bit of a roller coaster because the audience doesn't know the stuff you didn't manage to film exactly but you do and you carry that emotional burden and that's hard it is hard it is hard it was a good day um thanks for watching LinkedIn the description will be all the ways you can go and support uh the organizations people involved with this project but yeah in the meantime thanks for watching leave curious

Channel: Leave Curious

Views: 107,091

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Id: qSPFCKu73tY

Length: 12min 5sec (725 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 14 2023