Tayside Beaver Survey 2017-18
NatureScot
Description
The dataset comprises records of beavers or beaver signs from a commissioned survey of watercourses in the River Tay catchment during 2017-18.
Geographic Description
Tayside
Purpose
i.) To undertake a field survey that will enable beaver field signs to be recorded and mapped, the locations and numbers of likely occupied beaver territories to be established, and the numbers of beavers to be estimated in the relevant catchments (Tayside, plus nearby catchments with confirmed or anecdotal records).
ii.) To provide digital outputs that includes suitable georeferenced data compatible for SNH GIS, and for future use in relevant national biological databases.
iii.) To allow for a direct comparison of survey results from the current survey with the results from the 2012 survey, in particular noting changes in territory numbers (and therefore beaver numbers), range etc.
Data quality
All data was collected by experienced field surveyors
Methods
Beaver activity was recorded by following the methods used in Campbell et al. (2012) to allow direct comparison with the previous (2012) beaver distribution study in Tayside. Field surveys involved surveying a watercourse from canoe or on foot depending on accessibility, though the majority were undertaken on foot. The 2017/2018 survey area included those areas surveyed previously in 2012: the River Tay; the River Tummel; the River Isla (and its tributaries including the River Ericht, Dean Water, Kerbet Water, Burn of Kilry and Lunan Burn with Loch Clunie, Marlee Loch and Rae Loch); the mouth of the River Almond; the River Earn (and its tributaries including the Farg, Dron Burn and Pow Water); and the Invergowrie Burn. The survey area was then expanded to include watercourses with suitable habitat (based on hydrology and vegetation availability) beyond the points beavers had been previously found, plus additional areas in which beavers have been reported since 2012.
Citation
Campbell-Palmer, R., Puttock, A., Graham, H., Wilson, K., Schwab, G., Gaywood, M.J. & Brazier, R.E. (2018). Survey of the Tayside area beaver population 2017-2018. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report No. 1013. www.nature.scot/snh-research-report-1013-survey-tayside-area-beaver-population-2017-2018
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Digitised records
Looking up... the number of records that can be accessed through the NBN Atlas. This resource was last checked for updated data on 05 Jul 2019. The most recent data was published on 05 Jul 2019.
Click to view records for the Tayside Beaver Survey 2017-18 resource.