Ottery St Mary The first beaver dam to be built in England for 800 years has been erected on the River Tale in Devon by a pair of the rodents that were brought from Bavaria last year.

John-Michael Kennaway, of the Escot Estate in Ottery St Mary, where staff created a two-acre home with ponds and woodland along a section of the river for the two-year-old beavers, said that building the 6ft dam out of mud, bark and twigs meant that the animals were likely to be breeding.

Mr Kennaway said: “We won’t know for sure for a couple of months but it is very encouraging. It really is a superb structure, quite a feat of engineering for two small beavers. They are simply wonderful creatures, gentle, hard-working and very intelligent.”

Beavers were hunted to extinction in England in the 13th century. The few other beaver colonies introduced in England in recent years are on lakes and do not build dams. If the project at the Escot Estate is successful and the animals do breed, it will be a breakthrough in the reintroduction of beavers to Britain, with only 15 pairs across the nation.

Beavers are nocturnal creatures that can grow to more than 3ft in length and weigh up to 70lb. They are vegetarian and live on reeds, leaves and bark.

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