A family of six beavers returned to the Loch Ness catchment after roughly 500 years.
The licensed family group is the first release in a wider restoration programme.
A family of six Eurasian beavers has been released at Dundreggan in the River Moriston catchment, marking the first legal wild beaver release in the Loch Ness catchment in roughly 500 years.
WHAT HAPPENED
Trees for Life released the licensed family group on November 4, 2026, after NatureScot approved the programme. The six animals—an established family—are the first beavers placed through a plan that could eventually release up to 15 families at as many as 10 sites around the catchment. The release site is at Dundreggan, in the River Moriston catchment west of Loch Ness.
WHY THIS IS HOPESLOP
Beavers can create ponds, wetlands and more varied habitat through ordinary beaver behavior. Here, the hopeful part is both immediate and properly bounded: six animals are back in a catchment where legal wild releases had been absent for centuries, and a licensed, monitored programme now has a real first family on the ground.
ORIGINAL SOURCEBeaver TrustRead the original report
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