The Lodge Cast

For this episode of The Lodge Cast, we’re heading to Kent with Ben Morris and James Dilnott 🦫

Working at the intersection of conservation and water management, Ben and James are navigating wild beaver populations expanding across highly managed, low-lying catchments.

In this episode, they explore what makes Kent so unique and discuss:

🦫 Why Southeast England’s waterways are far from natural

🦫 How beavers are adapting to lowland, human-shaped landscapes

🦫 The realities of managing burrowing, flooding and infrastructure risk

🦫 The tools and innovations helping people and beavers share space

Want to discuss anything from this episode or the series with our expert team? We want to hear from you: @BeaverTrust.

Want more beaver? Please subscribe and leave us a review so we can bring the world of beavers to more ears.

The Lodge Cast is a mixture of fact and opinion. It was hosted by Emily Bowen and Alana Skilbeck, produced and edited by Emma Brisdion and mixed by Mark Skinner for Beaver Trust.

For this episode of The Lodge Cast, we’re heading to the River Avon with Bevis Watts and Jen Robertson 🦫

From early, low-profile sightings during lockdown to a nationally recognised population, Bevis and Jen have been closely involved in documenting the return of wild beavers to one of England’s busier river catchments.

In this episode, they explore key themes emerging from the Avon population:

🦫 The transition from off the books to national recognition

🦫 Approaches to coexistence, including landowner engagement and mitigation

🦫 The role of citizen science and community perspectives

🦫 Ecological impacts in large river systems where dam-building is limited

Want to discuss anything from this episode or the series with our expert team? We want to hear from you: @BeaverTrust.

Want more beaver? Please subscribe and leave us a review so we can bring the world of beavers to more ears.

The Lodge Cast is a mixture of fact and opinion. It was hosted by Emily Bowen and Alana Skilbeck, produced and edited by Emma Brisdion and mixed by Mark Skinner for Beaver Trust.

We’re heading to Knapdale with wildlife ranger and co-founder of the Heart of Argyll Wildlife Organisation, Oly Armstrong 🦫

Home to Scotland’s first official beaver reintroduction trial, Knapdale has become a cornerstone of beaver recovery in Britain and a place where people travel from across the world to see these animals shaping the landscape.

In this episode, Oly shares what makes Knapdale so special and explores:

🦫 How beavers are transforming former plantation forests

🦫 The story behind Scotland’s longest-running legal beaver population

🦫 Why conservation is shifting from preserving landscapes to embracing change

🦫 The surprising behaviours (and personalities) of beavers living in Knapdale

Want to discuss anything from this episode or the series with our expert team? We want to hear from you: @BeaverTrust.

Want more beaver? Please subscribe and leave us a review so we can bring the world of beavers to more ears.

The Lodge Cast is a mixture of fact and opinion. It was hosted by Emily Bowen and Alana Skilbeck, produced and edited by Emma Brisdion and mixed by Mark Skinner for Beaver Trust.

We’re kicking off Series 8 of The Lodge Cast with Tom Bowser, author of two brilliant books and owner of Argaty Red Kites.

The first private landowner in Scottish history to legally release beavers into the wild, Tom shares how life on the farm has transformed since the animals were released in 2021. He also steps into the judge's seat for our first 'fact-off' of the series, but does our new co-host, Alana, manage to secure a win?

In this episode, we explore:

🌱 The "oasis in the desert": How beavers seem to have provided an answer for every climate extreme thrown at the farm, from record-breaking heatwaves to relentless wet winters.

🌱 Reversing shifting baselines syndrome and normalising reintroduced species and wildness for the next generation

🌱 How beaver-engineered "lag time" has saved the farm thousands of pounds in flood repairs by protecting vital tracks and infrastructure.

We also discuss the pioneering riparian tree-planting trial taking place on the farm, if tree planting can take place in the presence of this returned native herbivore, and how many of the 56,000 trees planted beavers have claimed.

Want to discuss anything from this episode or the series with our expert team? We want to hear from you: @BeaverTrust.

Want more beaver? Please subscribe and leave us a review so we can bring the world of beavers to more ears.

The Lodge Cast is a mixture of fact and opinion. It was hosted by Emily Bowen and Alana Skilbeck, produced and edited by Emma Brisdion and mixed by Mark Skinner for Beaver Trust.

For this episode, Eva and Emily are joined by Billy Heaney, zoologist and wildlife guide, to learn more about the relationship between beavers and birds, from the river margins and beaver ponds up to the tree canopy and beyond.

Birds are key indicators of environmental health, and changes in their populations can often signal wider shifts happening in an ecosystem. In this episode, you can find out more about:
🪶 What opportunities and challenges beaver-engineered wetlands create for bird species
🪶 Why birds respond so quickly to beaver activity, and what that tells us about ecosystem recovery
🪶 What role humorous storytelling can play in connecting people to nature and conservation

Want to discuss anything from this episode or the series with our expert team? We want to hear from you: @BeaverTrust.

Want more beaver? Please subscribe and leave us a review so we can bring the world of beavers to more ears.

The Lodge Cast is a mixture of fact and opinion. It was hosted by Eva Bishop and Emily Bowen, produced and edited by Emma Brisdion and mixed by Mark Skinner for Beaver Trust.